China dismisses US report on religious freedom claims

China urged the US on Monday to stop using "so-called religious issues" to meddle in its internal affairs, rejecting a report released by Washington last week on religious freedom.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, while addressing a news conference, dismissed the report.

"The US’s so-called report has no factual basis. It is filled with lies and disinformation and reeks of ideological bias. It is a distortion of China’s religious policy. China opposes it," she said.

In the 2023 International Religious Freedom Report, the US State Department said the Chinese government is conducting surveillance and repression on Muslims in China’s Xinjiang autonomous region and criticized Beijing for its "genocide" of ethnic Uyghurs.

"The Chinese government protects the citizens’ freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law. People of all ethnic groups in China are fully entitled to the freedom of religious belief as prescribed by law," Mao added.

In China, she said, there are close to 200 million religious believers, over 380,000 clerical personnel, about 5,500 religious groups and over 140,000 places registered for religious activities.

The so-called “genocide” allegation is nothing but a lie propagated by the US side, she went on to say.

"From the first population census in 1953 to the seventh in 2020, the Uyghur population in Xinjiang has grown from 3.6076 million to 11.6243 million. The increase outnumbers not only that of the total population in Xinjiang, but also that of ethnic minorities in China as a whole," Mao said.

She said the US itself is "fraught with politicization of religion, scandals involving clerical personnel, religious cults and various other issues."

"Religious discrimination and persecution is commonplace and religious freedom is severely eroded. The US is in no position to lecture other countries or point its fingers at their religious situation. 

"We urge the US to respect the facts, correct its wrongdoings, and stop using so-called religious issues to meddle in China’s internal affairs," she added.