MANHATTAN, New York (April 10, 2013) – The President of ICNA, Naeem Baig, participated in the dialogue held today at the office of Religions for Peace, in Manhattan, New York, with the delegation of the China Committee on Religion and Peace (CCRP). ICNA is an Executive Council member of the US based organization Religions for Peace USA.


The Chinese delegation included:

Mr. Deng Zongliang
Executive Vice-Chairman, the Subcommittee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
Special Adviser of the President of China Committee on Religion and Peace (CCRP)

Ven. Xue Cheng
Secretary-General, CCRP
Vice-President, China Buddhist Association

Mr. Wei Yuanqi
Deputy Secretary-General, CCRP
Director-General, CCRP Office

Ms. Gao Ye
Program Chief, CCRP Office

The Executive Director of Religions for Peace, Dr. William Vendley, welcomed the guests and thanked the Chinese delegation for visiting the US and meeting with the leadership of the US religious organizations.

In his remarks Ven. Xue Cheng, Secretary General of CCRP, said that the five major religions in China, Buddhism, Taoism, Protestantism, Islam and Catholicism are flourishing and meeting the spiritual demands of their respective followers. The leaders of these major religions also work together to strengthen China Committee on Religions and Peace.

During the discussion Mr. Baig thanked CCRP for their work and also raised the issue of religious rights of Uyghur Muslims of China. He cited recent reports in the international media that the Chinese officials in Xinjiang province did not allow Muslim workers to fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He requested the CCRP delegation to look into this matter as this is an issue of human rights and religious freedom.

Mr. Zongliang, assured the forum that CCRP will consult the Chinese Muslim leadership on this matter and will ensure such things do not happen in future.

Established in the early 70′s, Religions for Peace USA is the largest and most broadly-based representative multi-religious forum in the United States. CCRP is a national mass organization consisting of representatives from the five major religions in China. Established in 1994, it’s headquartered in Beijing. There are an estimated 23 million Muslims in China, mainly in the western provinces.

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Yesterday a well-known US paper The Huffington Post published an article about the future US and China conflict in the Pacific ocean, saying that as the United States is determined to put its naval fleets to South China Sea to boost the morale of its anti-Chinese countries, it has also flared up temperature in Beijing, saying China is not doing substantial effort regarding human rights violations in China, while the response from the Chinese foreign office has been cautious. Whatever the United States may do, China is in no belligerent mood to take on the US anywhere in the world. In fact, China is not working on expanding its naval power, but on something more important and critical that is to disrupt command and control center’s communication and cyber espionage. This potential threat of paralyzing the US command and control center along with stealing the future military plans has raised eyebrows in the Pentagon. However, the most important question needs deliberation here where Islam and Islamic countries stand in this future conflict. Nobody has paid attention to this fact. If seen in the global scenario, we see that China has invested in every other Muslim country including Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan and above all Iran —the arch foe of the United States and Israel. Even Chinese textile is facing tough times by the onslaught of the imported and cheaper Chinese undergarment. This imperceptible occupation of the world market goes more in the favor of China than the United States.

Just take on example. Despite hectic efforts of the US officials and State Department China and India have refused to bring reduction in the Iranian crude oil imports. Several other countries also joined this bandwagon and now the US has been forced to issue a list of the countries have won concession. Singapore, a tiny island, may join this list soon. It means the US push to corner Iran might fail only because China along with India are not ready to do what US wants. Similarly, when the Islamic countries wills see that the US is hell bent on locking horns with China, it is likely that they might take on the US instead of confronting China as they have more stakes in China than in the United States.

The US policy of dividing Islamic world into two factions Sunni and Shia may also boomerang as it has badly failed in Libya where a ragtag rebel army took over Tripoli with the NATO backing, but ultimately it seems that Al-Qa’ida is well-poised to, if not in power, at least have powerful clout in the government. Same my take place in Syria if not all-out civil war and if Sunni hardliners prevail in this region, they will follow Salafites of Saudi Arabia which is not going to leave China as China has heavily invested in Saudi Arabia over rail projects and to allay the fears of the Muslim Saudi government has sent Muslim countries over there. Another important point is that China has no military presence in any country to invite the wrath of the Muslim countries, while the US and its agencies are meddling in every other Muslim countries; sometime bringing Spring and sometime other revolutions. It seems that the Shakespearean phrase “hoisted by his own petard” seems taking place, if the United States does not rectify its policies vis-à-vis Islamic world and Islamic countries and they will surely stand by China in the future Sino-US conflict.

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