Respect religious beliefs of Muslims, China to Sweden

BEIJING: China on Wednesday criticised Sweden after a recent incident took place involving desecration of copies of Holy Quran, foreign media reported.

"Freedom of speech cannot be a reason to incite racial or cultural discrimination and tear society apart," said Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, referring to the incident that triggered widespread condemnation across the Muslim world.

"We hope Sweden can earnestly respect the religious beliefs of minority groups, including Muslims," Wang said, according to the Chinese daily, Global Times. Last week, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) group, desecrated a copy of the Muslim holy book in Sweden's southern Linkoping city. He also threatened to do so in future rallies.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and a host of Arab and Muslim countries and organisations have condemned the desecration of holy book, terming the act as provocation and incitement against Muslims. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation was among those that strongly condemned the incident.