China has been studying whether to draft a law to manage halal food, according to a report released by the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council.
The report, which detailed government's ethnic affairs work during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), was released Tuesday on the official WeChat account of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.
The legislation on halal food was included in the legislation work plan of the State Council in 2015, years after the State Council ordered the Ethnic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) to draft national regulations on halal food in 2002.
After lawmakers said disputes were triggered by issues related to halal food, the Ethnic Affairs Committee of the NPC suggested speeding up passage of the legislation in 2012 and 2015, saying that the legislation is "reasonable and necessary" as it relates to "national unity and social stability."
Several Muslims smashed the facilities of a bakery in Xining, Northwest China's Qinghai Province in May 2015 after discovering non-halal ingredients, such as pork sausages and ham, in its delivery van.
Hundreds of Muslims in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, also took to the streets in May 2015 to demand a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages at local halal restaurants, which is forbidden by the Koran.
Ma Yuxiang and Ma Zhipeng, professors at Northwest University for Nationalities in Lanzhou, called for the legislation in 2014, saying misconduct by halal restaurants has jeopardized national unity.
However, the legislation was opposed by many scholars, including Xi Wuyi, an expert on Marxism at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who has voiced opposition on her Weibo account since February, saying that it could damage the principle of the separation of politics and religion, which is stipulated in China's Constitution.
