China has announced new rules for Muslims travelling for the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
Under the new regulations published on October 12, the hajj will only be organized by the country’s Islamic Association.
Beijing has ordered Chinese Muslims not to oppose the regulations. About 10,000 Muslims in China perform hajj every year.
The new regulation has a total of 42 articles, including one that stipulates that the Chinese Islamic Association is the only organisation authorised to arrange for Muslims to embark on hajj in Mecca.
The new law will come into effect from December, state-run Global Times reported.
Other organisation or individuals will be barred from organising hajj trips, according to new regulations, and Chinese citizens are urged to meet basic requirements when applying for the Haj.
China has a Muslim population of around 20 million which includes Uighur Turks who hail from East Turkestan and Hui Muslims, who are of Chinese ethnic origin.
China has come under severe international criticism, including from the UN and western countries, over allegations that it is holding over a million people, mostly ethnic Uyghurs, in internment camps in Muslim-majority Xinjiang province in a bid to drive them from Islam.
There are over 10 million Turkic-speaking Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.
