Abrar Hussain: China is preparing a new guideline to crack down on “chaotic” and illegal online promotion of religion, according to a report yesterday by the Chinese newspaper Global Times.
All organizations engaged in the online dissemination of religious information will be obliged to apply for licenses from provincial religious affairs departments, the paper said, citing a policy document issued on Monday.
Although the license will enable them to “preach and offer religious training”, they will not be allowed to live-stream or broadcast religious activities. The dissemination of religious information anywhere other than their own internet platforms is also forbidden.
The guideline also specifically prohibits online religious services from “inciting subversion”, opposing the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and promoting extremism and separatism.
In theory, Chinese citizens are free to practise any religion, as long as it is officially recognized by the government, which has repeatedly cracked down on unauthorized religious activity: the latest example being on Monday where Beijing authorities shut down a large Protestant church.
China has also been under heavy international scrutiny for its treatment of its mostly Muslim Uighur minority in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Human rights groups have accused the Chinese government of conducting a punitive crackdown that has seen the detention of as many as 1 million ethnic Uighurs in internment camps.
-Source: WIO News