China wades into Nupur Sharma row, hopes incident ‘can be properly managed’

Wading into the diplomatic firestorm over the remarks made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma, China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday said it hoped the “relevant incident can be properly managed”.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry was asked to comment on the row at Monday’s daily press briefing by a Chinese television channel, which asked the spokesperson to comment on “recent remarks about Prophet Muhammed by India’s BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma” that had “sparked outrage among Muslim communities in India and Islamic countries.”

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded saying, China’s Foreign Ministry “noted relevant reports”. “We hope the relevant incident can be properly managed,” he said. “China believes that different civilisations and different religions should respect each other and co-exist on an equal footing. It is important to abandon arrogance and prejudice and important to deepen recognition and understanding of one’s own civilisation and differences from other civilisations, and promote dialogue and harmonious co-existence.”

China has come under criticism for its policies toward Muslims, particularly over sending hundreds of thousands of Uighurs to “re-education” camps that Beijing has called vocational training institutions. However, many Islamic countries, including China’s “all-weather” ally Pakistan, as well as groups such as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries that have close trading relations with Beijing, have remained largely silent on the Xinjiang issue. Beijing has hit out at Western criticism over Xinjiang, describing it as interference in China’s “internal” affairs.