- China’s Measures for the Administration of Internet Religious Information Services banning unlicensed online groups or ceremonies comes into effect in March
- Beijing has said the move is necessary to safeguard national security and it follows a call by Xi Jinping to ‘strengthen the management’ of religious affairs
All foreign organisations or individuals will be banned from spreading religious content online in China under new regulations released on Monday, in what Beijing says is another effort to safeguard its national security.
No organisation or individual will be allowed to disseminate information about religious ceremonies on the internet unless they have a licence from China’s religious regulator, according to the new rules.
The regulations are the first of their kind to tighten control of online religious affairs, coming two weeks after a national religious work conference attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which he called on China to “strengthen the management of online religious affairs”.
The new rules, titled Measures for the Administration of Internet Religious Information Services, were jointly drafted by five departments, including the State Administration of Religious Affairs, and will come into effect in March.
Religion in China has been a focus of confrontation between Beijing and Western governments, mostly over China’s policies towards its Muslim minorities and Christians in China, as well as the country’s increasingly tight supervision of religions.
On Tuesday, Beijing announced fresh sanctions against four members of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal commission that monitors religious freedom, in response to Washington’s latest sanctions over Xinjiang.
The new rules state that applicants for a licence to disseminate religious content online must be an entity or individual based in China and recognised by Chinese laws, and its main representative should be a Chinese national.
Religion in China has been a focus of confrontation between Beijing and Western governments, mostly over China’s policies towards its Muslim minorities and Christians in China, as well as the country’s increasingly tight supervision of religions.
On Tuesday, Beijing announced fresh sanctions against four members of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal commission that monitors religious freedom, in response to Washington’s latest sanctions over Xinjiang.
The new rules state that applicants for a licence to disseminate religious content online must be an entity or individual based in China and recognised by Chinese laws, and its main representative should be a Chinese national.
