China on Monday weighed into the diplomatic furor over controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammed by non-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma, saying it was important to “discard pride and prejudice” between civilisations and that it hoped the situation will be handled in a proper manner.
Dialogue and exchanges should be promoted between civilisations, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, said in a first remark on the ongoing row.
Wang made the comment at Monday’s daily press briefing by a Chinese television channel, which asked the spokesperson to comment on “recent remarks about Prophet Mohammed by India’s BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma”, which had “sparked outrage among Muslim communities in India and Islamic countries”.
During a television debate on May 28, BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma made controversial remarks about Prophet Mohammed and on June 1 another party leader Naveen Kumar Jindal tweeted some objectionable comments. On June 5, the BJP suspended Sharma and expelled its Delhi unit media head Jindal as the row over their derogatory remarks escalated. The BJP also issued a statement asserting “it respects all religions and strongly denounces insults of any religious personality”.
“We have noted relevant reports and hope that the situation will be handled properly. China always believes that different civilisations and religions should respect each other and live together as equals,” Wang said. “It is always important to discard pride and prejudice, better understand the differences between one’s own civilisation and other civilisations, and promote exchanges, dialogue and harmonious coexistence between civilisations.”
China itself has come under strong global criticism, especially from Western countries and human rights groups, for its hard policies against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region and allegedly incarcerating more than a million in camps on preemptive charges.
Beijing has dismissed the allegations, calling the camps “vocational training institutes” and the allegations of forced labour and ill treatment of the Uyghur community as a smear campaign led by the US.
Many Islamic countries, including China’s “all-weather” ally Pakistan – which have been vocal in their criticism of the row triggered by Sharma’s comments – have remained silent on the issues in Xinjiang.
In fact, former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in an interview with CNN earlier this year said that Pakistan’s ambassador to China Moinul Haq had visited Xinjiang and said that the situation over there is “not what the Western media portrays”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping in May defended China’s record in a meeting with UN’s top human rights official, saying there is no “flawless utopia” and criticised countries that lecture others on human rights and politicise the issue.
“When it comes to human rights issues, there is no such thing as a flawless utopia; countries do not need patronising lecturers, still less should human rights issues be politicised and used as a tool to apply double standards, or as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries,” Xi told UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, who toured Xinjiang in May, in a meeting via video link.
China’s comments on the ongoing row would be closely tracked by New Delhi, which too has remained silent on problems in Xinjiang.
