THE Communist Party has ordered leaders of China's Islamic community to tighten their control over the increasingly animated mainland Muslim population following widespread protests by Chinese Muslims earlier this year.
Politburo Standing Committee member Li Ruihuan told delegates to the Sixth National Islamic Convention in Beijing it was their ''duty to maintain social stability''.
Social stability was the ''bedrock of China's reforms'' and should be maintained at all costs, Mr Li said.
Muslim sources in Beijing say the party and government are becoming increasingly nervous about the rising tide of Muslim militancy in China, and are redoubling their efforts to reassert control.
''They know that if China is to break apart, the initiative will come from the Muslims in Xinjiang and other parts of western China first,'' a source said.
The government has been alarmed by a wave of protests which swept China after the publication of a Taiwanese book in the mainland earlier this year which includes passages deeply offensive to some Muslims.