DAR AL HARB - CHINA: THE LAND OF ONE BILLION PLUS DHIMMIS

China to enact national regulation on management of Muslim food

BEIJING, February 23 -- China will enact a national regulation on the management of Muslim foods to guarantee the protection of customs of the Islamic ethnic minorities, according to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC).

The draft regulation, which has gone through numerous modifications in the past two years, is being revised again by the commission and Legislative Affairs Office under the State Council, said an SEAC official.

It will then be submitted to the State Council for approval after further soliciting opinions from different government departments, said the official, who revealed no details about the draft.
Many local governments in China have issued their own rules governing the production of Muslim food.

Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong Province, introduced its first regulation on the management of Islamic food in 2003.

The regulation stipulates that Muslims should be involved in the management of companies or factories producing Islamic food.

It also sets out special criteria for Islamic food producers, and orders the use of special logos that are approved by the city's ethnic affairs authorities.

In many Chinese cities, special Muslim cafeterias are available in government buildings, schools, enterprises and institutions. Special beef and mutton markets are also set up in Muslim communities.

China now has 10 Islamic ethnic minorities, which are the Hui, Uygur, Kazak, Ozbek, Tatar, Bonan, Kirgiz, Tajik, Dongxiang and Salar, with a total population of about 20 million people.


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China's state TV bans pig images to avoid offending Muslims

BEIJING (AFP) - China's national state-run television network has banned all images of pigs from advertisements to avoid offending Muslim minorities, according to a company official.

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 2007 is the year of the pig. Across China, images of the animal are proliferating on billboards and in print advertisements as well as being used in promotional gifts in many shops.

There are 18 million Muslims in China, according to official statistics.

China Central Television (CCTV), a mouthpiece of the government, told AFP it was keeping images and spoken references to pigs off the screen to avoid arousing ethnic tension.

"CCTV is a national television network... Due to concern over ethnic and cultural habits, we will keep the pig image away from the screen," said a programme department official, who declined to give his name.

"We do not want to cause unnecessary bad influence or hurt the feelings of ethnic groups."

Global food giant Nestle said it had been forced to scrap a plan to air a new year TV advertisement featuring a smiling cartoon pig due to the state television station's opposition.

"It explained that this is to show respect to Islam and was a guidance from the higher levels of the government," said Thierry Vapperaeau, spokesman for Nestle China.

"It is not a big problem... we will change to another cartoon image."


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