I didn't say all Muslims are Islamists. I said Islamists (i.e. political Islam) pose a threat to Chinese unity and the unquestioned authority of the state, whic

I didn't say all Muslims are Islamists. I said Islamists (i.e. political Islam) pose a threat to Chinese unity and the unquestioned authority of the state, which the CCP tries to project at all costs. Consider the political influence of Evangelical Christians in the US if you feel more comfortable talking about it that way. The difference is that (local) Evangelicals are a much weaker influence internationally than Islamists. The closest Christian equivalent I can think of are the Moonies in Japan but that's a regional cult generally considered separate from mainstream Christian sects. I'm not saying anything negative about Islam here. If there were a similar international network of political Christians, China would likely be very concerned about Christian minorities as well, but as it is, Islamists pose the most direct risk of promoting separatist sentiments and this makes Muslims suspect, whether their religion is officially tolerated or not. Heck, Tibet is another obvious example with separatist sentiments being directly tied to the religious/spiritual structure of the region and its opposition to the absolute claims to power of the central government. It's just a consequence of trying to project a monolithic structure for a territory this vast with this many ethnic groups and cultures within. Probably the weirdest and most impractical manifestation of this is in the single Chinese timezone.