Neoimperialist media can’t stop lying about mosques in the People’s Republic of China
Neoimperialist media can’t stop lying about mosques in the People’s Republic of China
The writer participated in a delegation organized by the China/U.S. Solidarity Network that visited China from May 11 to May 31. Over the last few years, the U.S. media have routinely run stories accusing China of the erasure of Islam, in part based on the alleged mass demolition of mosques. ...
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), an anti-China think tank with ties to weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, has produced various articles and an interactive map of China that supposedly lists sites of “forced labor camps” and “destroyed mosques.”
This so-called database has been cited as a source by many articles criticizing China. But like other widely discredited sources — such as the far-right religious extremist Adrian Zenz, known as the architect of the “Uyghur genocide” narrative — the ASPI map contains a plethora of misinformation. This map, dubbed the “Xinjiang Data Project,” has incorrectly listed mosques under renovation as “demolished,” including the Keriya Aitika Mosque in Hotan, Xinjiang.
The renovation of mosques is widely exploited by dishonest reporters looking to spin a story. Renovations of mosques, housing units, cultural sites and virtually every other type of structure are common throughout China, especially in southwestern regions like Xinjiang, where earthquakes are common.