GENEVA, June 29, 2018 -- Positive and healthy religious relationships are key to solving religion-related conflicts in various societies, a Chinese expert said Wednesday.
 

De Quanying, dean of the Law School of Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics, said during the ongoing 38th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council that as a Daur living in the multi-ethnic region of Xinjiang for more than 50 years, he has developed a keen interest in studying religious relations.

 

"Through years of research, I believe that in order to achieve a harmonious coexistence of various religions, we must correctly handle the relationship between the government and religion, between society and religion, between religious citizens and non-religious citizens, among religious citizens, among different religions and the relations between national religions and foreign religions," he said.

 

He said that beside Taoism that originated in China, there are also some other religions in China, such as Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, and that there are nearly 200 million religious citizens in China.

 

"Over the years, China has persisted in guaranteeing citizens' right to freedom of religion, satisfying believers' normal religious requirements, administrating religious affairs legally, preventing and fighting religious extremism, and giving full play to the role of the religious communities, and thus has established positive and healthy religious relationships," he said.

 

The expert, speaking on behalf of the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), also said that the CSHRS is willing to share China's experience and strengthen relevant academic exchanges.