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China and the ISIS ThreatAlready grappling with a home-grown terrorism problem, should Beijing fear the Islamic State?
By Gary Sands
September 26, 2014
http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/china-and-the-isis-threat/< Edited >
The U.S. and Australia are obvious targets for IS, but how dire is the threat for China? According to comments made in July by Wu Sike, China’s special envoy to the Middle East, up to 100 Chinese citizens may be fighting for IS. Wu believes the Chinese fighters are Uighurs from Xinjiang, a Muslim Turkic-speaking ethnic minority group.
A recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), whose members include China Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, saw its members sharing the same fear Europeans and Americans have of their fellow citizens who have joined IS in Iraq and Syria returning to their home countries. In addressing the heads of state of SCO in Tajikistan, President Xi Jinping confirmed “(We) should make concerted efforts to crack down on the ‘three evil forces’ of terrorism, extremism and separatism.” Zhang Xinfeng, the group’s director of the Regional Anti-Terrorism Agency also spoke on the members’ concern of returning IS soldiers, saying, “These people have started returning to their homeland, which constitutes a major threat to regional security.”
The heightened concern comes as Beijing battles an active homegrown terrorist insurgency primarily focused in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. Local authorities lay the blame for the violence on the minority Uyghur population, who are thought to be behind the July 28 attack, which led to 59 suspected terrorists being gunned down by security forces in Shache county in Xinjiang’s far south. Three days after the incident, the government-appointed head of the Id Kah mosque in the far western city of Kashgar was killed after leading morning prayers. This year has seen a number of grisly terrorist actions, including a suicide bombing on May 22 at a morning street market in Urumqi, which killed at least 39 people and wounded dozens. Other attacks include the stabbing of six people earlier this month at a train station in Guangzhou, a suicide bombing at the end of April at the Urumqi train station, and stabbings at the Kunming train station in March.
While some Chinese diplomats may be publicly downplaying the threat of IS coming to China, Beijing is likely heightening its activity in response to comments made in early July by IS speaking of revenge against several countries, including China, for seizing “Muslim rights.” The comments made the cover story of Phoenix Weekly, a Hong Kong-based newsmagazine widely distributed in China, and the article was widely disseminated throughout Chinese news websites and social media to a population still anxious and fearful following the Kunming and Guangzhou attacks.
The article quotes a July 4 speech in Mosul, Iraq by IS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, during which he says, “Muslim rights are forcibly seized in China, India, Palestine” and, “Your brothers all over the world are waiting for your rescue, and are anticipating your brigades.” The article specifically notes that China was mentioned first on al-Baghdadi’s list, and shows a map that reportedly shows the territory IS plans to occupy in the next five years – which includes a significant portion of Xinjiang.
< Edited >
