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China believes the separatists are being assisted by Muslim fundamentalist groups in Afghanistan and other Central Asian republics.

China fears the influence of radical Islamic thinking filtering in from central Asia, and the role of exiles in neighbouring states and in Turkey, with which Xinjiang's majority Uighur population shares linguistic ties.

• Recent reports (2000/2001) by human rights organisations claim that in parts of Xinjiang there are considerable restrictions

  • Government officials control mosque building

  • Government officials control appointment of imams

  • Large gatherings of Uighur Muslims are discouraged

  • Mosques must record the names of those who attend

  • School children and students may be expelled if they attend mosques too often

Continued In April 2001, the government set up a China Islamic Association which was described as aiming to "help the spread of the Koran in China and oppose religious extremism".

The association, according to the China Daily, is to be run by 16 Islamic religious leaders who are charged with making "a correct and authoritative interpretation" of Islamic creed and canon.

It will compile and spread inspirational speeches and help imams improve themselves, the paper said.

The committee of imams will also vet sermons made by clerics around the country.

This latter function is probably the key job as far as the central government is concerned. It is worried that devout, anti-secular clerics are using their sermons to spread sedition.

Some examples of the religious freedom granted to Muslims are:

• In areas where Muslims are a majority, the breeding of pigs is not allowed, in deference to Muslim sensitivities.

• Muslim communities are allowed separate cemeteries;

• Muslim couples may have their marriage consecrated by an Iman.

• Muslim workers are permitted holidays during major religious festivals.

• Chinese Muslims are also allowed to make the Hajj to Mecca, and more than 45,000 Muslims have done se in recent years.

Statistics are hard to find, and the number of Muslims in China today is somewhere between 20 and 100 million; it depends on whose figures you trust.

According to government figures, there are 20 million Muslims (1.4% of the population), 35,000 Islamic places of worship, and more than 45,000 imams in China.

China's Muslims are divided among 10 ethnic groups. The Muslims of the traditional Chinese heartland are called the Hui and are often indistinguishable from their Han Chinese neighbours.

The Hui cause little anxiety to China's modern rulers. They have intermarried with non-Muslims, lost many of their customs and are frequently secular in their approach.

An official Chinese document of 1997 states

The Chinese government ... respects and protects the Moslems freedom of religious belief as well as their folk customs. The departments concerned in the government have provided special pilgrimage-related services for Moslem pilgrims... Since the 1980’s, the number of Chinese Moslems going to Mecca on pilgrimages has exceeded 40,000. In the Xinjian Uygur Autonomous Region alone, there are now more than 23,000 mosques with 29,000 clergymen, having thus met the needs of believers’ religious life.

SOURC: BBC