When you can send a couple hundred million out and still break even for the largest population in the world.:eek:
HMMM
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When you can send a couple hundred million out and still break even for the largest population in the world.:eek:
HMMM
EWC, 16 Jul 09: Ethno-Diplomacy: The Uyghur Hitch in Sino-Turkish Relations
Quote:
Beginning in 1949, China responded to so-called Uyghur separatism and the quest for Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang) independence as a domestic problem. Since the mid-1990s, however, when it became aware of the international aspects of this problem, Beijing has begun to pressure Turkey to limit its support for Uyghur activism. Aimed not only at cultural preservation but also at Eastern Turkestan independence, Uyghur activism remained unnoticed until the 1990s, despite the establishment in 1971 of Sino-Turkish diplomatic relations. It has gathered momentum as a result of China's post-Mao opening, the Soviet disintegration, increased Uyghur migration, the growing Western concern for human rights, and the widespread use of the Internet. Until the mid-1990s Turkey's leaders managed to defy Chinese pressure because they sympathized with the Uyghurs, were personally committed to their leader Isa Yusuf Alptekin, and hoped to restore Turkish influence in Central Asia. By late 1995, however, both that hope and Alptekin were dead, and China was becoming an influential, self-confident economic power. At this time Ankara chose to comply with Beijing's demands, which were backed by increased trade, growing military collaboration, and China's veiled threats of support for Kurdish nationalism. Consequently, Turkish Uyghurs suffered a serious blow, and some of their organizations had to relocate abroad, outside Beijing's reach. Nonetheless, Uyghur activism continues in Turkey and has become even more pronounced worldwide. Possibly less concerned about the Uyghur "threat" than it suggests, Beijing may simply be using the Uyghurs to intimidate and manipulate Turkey and other governments, primarily those in Central Asia.
Promoting Jihad Against China: The Turkistani Islamic Party in Arabic Jihadist Media, by Kirk H. Sowell. An Independent Report Commissioned by Sky News, August 1, 2010. (PDF)
Quote:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Turkistani Islamic Party (TIP) is a jihadist organization which claims to represent China‟s Muslim Uighur population. It is the most militant of Uighur groups in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. While experts dispute TIP‟s origins, it claims to be a renamed continuation of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which appeared defunct in 2003 following the death of its leader.
Since 2008, TIP has used the global jihadist media to present itself as the successor of the classical Islamic caliphate, operating parallel to Osama bin Ladin‟s al-Qaeda (AQ), with its avowed ambition the Islamization of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While marginal to Uighur society and never demonstrating significant capabilities, Uighur jihadists garnered increased international attention following al-Qaeda‟s 2001 attacks on the United States and TIP‟s own 2008 threat against the Beijing Olympics.
This report, Promoting Jihad Against China, attempts to address two issues: (1) TIP‟s origins, including its relationship to ETIM; and (2) TIP‟s relationship to the global jihadist movement, including al-Qaeda. The evidence is derived from TIP publications in Arabic jihadist media supplemented by secondary sources in English and Arabic.
While this report was commissioned by Sky News, it is an independent study and Sky News is not responsible for its contents. The key judgments are as follows:
- TIP is a successor organization to ETIM, which likely ceased to exist in 2003. While TIP claims total continuity between the two groups, its emergence in 2008 is more likely a refounding of a defunct organization.
- TIP has deep ties to the Taliban, but appears to have only tangential links to al-Qaeda. TIP supports AQ‟s war against the United States, but has criticized it for ignoring Asian Muslims. Media which habitually describe TIP as “al-Qaeda-linked” would be on firmer ground linking it to the Taliban.
- The primary purpose of TIP’s Arabic publications appears to be fundraising, with little relationship to operations. TIP‟s publications feature highly-theoretical discussions of Islamic history and doctrine targeted to Gulf Arabs sympathetic to jihadism. While fundraising is typically a goal of jihadist publications, this seems more true of TIP than for jihadists in the Arab world.
- TIP has failed to break into the mainstream Arabic information environment. While TIP‟s publications have sufficient presence on jihadist forums to give it exposure to its core audience, it has failed to have impact on mainstream Arabic media similar to that of other militant Islamist groups.
Bourbon,
The report aside, why would a UK-based global TV channel, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, with IIRC extensive interests in China, commission such a report? On a quick scan the report has no clues.:confused:
These guys are just one of many nationalist insurgent movements among Muslim populaces that AQ engages with as they conduct Unconventional Warfare to leverage the populaces of others to assist them in their own agenda/goals as an organization.
If the West continues with a historic approach, we will help China conduct counterterrorism against this nationalist insurgent movement and to exert controls over the Chinese Muslim populace they represent.
Or, we can perhaps draw a clearer perspective when looking at an insurgent movement against a government we have issues with than we can when looking at the insurgent movements against governments we tend to think of as "friends."
My recommendation is that we out-compete AQ for influence with this populace. They need an advocate to help them in their very real issues with the Chinese government. The US falls much more closely in line with the historic principles upon which our nation was founded, and also with the overly positive self-image we have of ourselves in the global environment, by taking such a role. Not working to help the insurgent overthrow the government or break away, and not helping the government to suppress their populace. Instead providing a strong third party to help mediate the grievances.
Everyone has come to recognize that good COIN "protects the populace" from the insurgent. What I don't see, however, is the recognition that good FID works to protect the populace from the insurgent and the government. In America we have a great constitution that has proven to be an effective guard of the populace against government abuse. (Recent efforts to nick away at those guards under the guise of current challenges must be resisted by the people!) In other places there are no such guards against government abuse.
Who guards the people of Afghanistan from the abuses of the Afghan government?? Not the US, we actually enable the Afghan government (against our feeble protests) to act in abusive ways that feed the insurgency.
Who guards the people of Saudi Arabia or Yemen or Egypt from the abuses of their governments? Again, not the US, who enables those governments to act with impunity as well.
So, the question is, will we merely ignore this "Chinese problem" (In the current global environment, nothing is localized like that, and these guys are a significant source of foreign fighters to Pakistan) and let the Chinese handle it as they see fit? Do we assist the Chinese with capacity building and CT support to suppress this segment of their populace more effectively (and thereby add ourselves to the insurgent target list)? Or do we break the model that we have been following in Africa and the Middle East and take a neutral role more in line with our national principles?
Just asking. I know what I recommend. These are not problems that can be contained, nor can they effectively be suppressed without increased chance of terrorist acts back home. They must be addressed, as they will not go away until they are.
The Chinese will not need, want, or request our help.
My recommendation is that we leave it alone. It's not our business, it's not our problem, and it's very unlikely that any side of the story wants us involved in any way. We are not the solution to every problem, and there's no need for us to get involved in every problem. Let it be. We've enough issues elsewhere.
The degree to which we "enable" anything is highly debatable. In Saudi Arabia our "enabling" role is absolutely nonexistent: the US could withdraw completely from all engagement with the Saudis with no effect whatsoever on the Saudi relationship with its populace. They don't need our help to contain their populace and they don't care what we think... we'd lose a fair bit of intel (and a whole lot of defence contracts) but that's about it
In Egypt our "enabling" role is minimal: they like the aid but it's not enough to give us enough leverage to force them to change anything, and they don't step on their populace because we enable it. They'd do it in any event. Once upon a time they were dependents, not now. They could survive without the aid, and it's likely that others would replace it if we withdrew.
In Yemen, arguably, we enable a bad government to survive... but I've seen few good options proposed. Important to note that Yemen doesn't face "an insurgency" with "an insurgent leadership" that we can deal with if the government is unsuitable. Yemen faces a crawling chaos of ethnic, sectarian, and tribal conflict; the threat is not an insurgent victory but a descent into Somali-style anarchy.
The whole notion of "enabling" is something you seem to asume but do not demonstrate; I think you vastly overrate what we can or do actually "enable". Certainly in China, no matter what policy we adopt, we will not be "enabling" anything.
Agreed 150%
Again, agreed with your accurate assesment.Quote:
In Yemen, arguably, we enable a bad government to survive... but I've seen few good options proposed. Important to note that Yemen doesn't face "an insurgency" with "an insurgent leadership" that we can deal with if the government is unsuitable. Yemen faces a crawling chaos of ethnic, sectarian, and tribal conflict; the threat is not an insurgent victory but a descent into Somali-style anarchy.
Exactly, it didn't/hasn't/doesn't work with Tibet I don't see how or why it should with ETIM or the Uighur people. Non-intervention not more intervention should be the norm at least if we still believe in the notion of state soveriengty. Ultimately, whatever problems a people has with its government are its problem unless the issues should be so severe as to threaten regional and international security in which case its a regional problem (essentially the Edmund Burke doctrine from the French revolution) and only in the last instance is it an international one....unless you subscribe to the idea of universal peace/government (which demands intervention) which is a dream and not even a nice one. Indeed, in a number of cases (if not the majority) local dis/malcontents tactitly if not overtly assume and rely upon the internationalisation of their greivance. Turning a local issue into a global one which not only complicates its resolution but also involves parties who have no business being invlved in the first place and seek simply to gain in some way. Remove that and you, IMO only, dampen the flames that lead to escalation.Quote:
The whole notion of "enabling" is something you seem to asume but do not demonstrate; I think you vastly overrate what we can or do actually "enable". Certainly in China, no matter what policy we adopt, we will not be "enabling" anything.
Stress fractures.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-1...tation/2799554Quote:
More than five people are dead after an angry mob attacked a police station in western China. According to Chinese media reports, a mob attacked the police building in Hotan in the Xinjiang region, taking hostages and setting it on fire. Paramilitary police are said to have then launched a counter attack in which several hostage takers were killed.
AdamG,
Such incidents as you posted above are regular occurrences in China, particularly in the rural areas, although sometimes in the urban areas and notably in Urumchi in July 2009. I cannot readily find a reference source.
You can expect to have many anecdotes and episodes in a 1+ billion people nation. It takes statistics to improve observations.
Yes, disturbances are a regular occurrence in rural China, but Xinjiang is a flashpoint. Xinjiang is going to be China’s future Achilles Heel, if it isn’t already.
On ICSR's blog 'Jihad in China', which opens with;Link:http://icsr.info/blog/Jihad-in-ChinaQuote:
Islamist terrorism and extremism in China is a very difficult subject to research. A general sense of paranoia casts a shadow over the it and a great paucity in direct and accurate information means that people often have very little that is empirical or tangible to add.
None of this is to say that the problem does not exist.
(Ends with)It seems that there is some sort of a terrorist threat to China from violent Islamist networks. But what remains unclear is to what degree this threat is able to conduct any sorts of operations within China or to what degree al Qaeda and affiliate networks are able (or want) to manipulate it for their own ends. Currently, the jihad in China seems more aspirational than operational. At the same time, if events in Hotan are confirmed, it looks like the tinderbox of ethnic friction and disenfranchisement that might offer an outlet for such extremism to latch on to continues to exist.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-violence.htmlQuote:
China has said Islamic extremists were behind an attack on the eve of the Muslim fasting month in the restive western region of Xinjiang that left 11 people dead....
An initial police investigation found that the leaders of the group behind the attack had learned about explosives and firearms in Pakistan at a camp of the separatist "East Turkestan Islamic Movement," it said.
Police shot dead five people and arrested four others after they stormed a restaurant, set in on fire after killing the owner and a waiter, and then ran onto the street and hacked to death four people, Xinhua news agency reported.
I accept the only report cited is the official PRC news agency, although there are usually travellers in Kashgar travelling along the Karakoram Highway to Pakistan.
What is more interesting is the attack on a restaurant and the murders in the street. Extreme violence face to face and I expect in the knowledge there is no escape is not a good sign. My knowledge of the region is poor, could this be the first suicide terrorist attack? So breaking "the mould" and local, Muslim traditions?
There is a different BBC report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14356532
Much of the violence in Xinjiang in recent years - and many of the attacks ascribed to East Turkestan groups there, have been with edged weapons, blunt instruments, or crude incendiary devices. Contrast this with ETIM in Pakistan (and Afghanistan?) who appear to be supplied with small arms and explosives, and “ETIM” in Xinjiang looks like the junior-varsity B-squad.
A backgrounder on the BBC by an academic on the troubles in Kashgar and Xinjiang Province; which ends with:Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14384605Quote:
The dire situation of the Uighurs in Xinjiang is at the root of the conflict. Only when the real culprits - poverty, marginalisation and discrimination - are defeated can the conflict be satisfactorily resolved.
Alas political power rests far beyond the Uighurs. "Draining the swamp" is laudable, sadly too much weighs against anything happening.
This thread was called 'China's Far West' and is a better home for recent posts on insurgency / terrorism/ public disorder in China's western provinces than the thread on China's emergence as a super power.
I've re-named this thread as 'China's Far West provinces: a Small War'. On reflection I've also left in the Central Asia forum, not Asia-Pacific where most threads on China appear.
A commentary on the issues in Xinjiang and their effect on Sino-Pakistani relations:http://raffaellopantucci.com/2011/08...ani-relations/
Taster:Quote:
The fact that we have seen similar instances of serious violence in Xinjiang on a relatively regular basis over the last few years suggests some deep-seated anger is bubbling just below the surface. Whether this is directed by external parties is unclear, however.
From the NYT:Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/wo..._r=1&ref=worldQuote:
The American organization, the SITE Intelligence Group, posted the video, by the Turkistan Islamic Party, on its Web site on Wednesday, reporting that it had been issued in late August. In the video, according to SITE, the group’s leader, Abdul Shakoor Damla, claimed that attacks in July in Hotan and Kashgar, two southern Xinjiang cities, were acts of revenge for the Chinese government’s repression of the region’s ethnic Uighur population.
Not unexpected, although I do wonder if this will be seen by those aspiring to join the violent Jihad as inspirational.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14926413Quote:
Four members of the Uighur minority have been sentenced to death over attacks in China's restive Xinjiang province, which left 32 people dead.
The men were found guilty of murder, arson and running a terrorist organisation, state media reported.
Two others were jailed for 19 years for their roles in separate incidents in Kashgar and Hotan in July.
Quote:
Chinese Muslims banned from fasting in Ramadan
Amid fresh arrests, restrictions on fasting and prayers at mosques, Uighur Muslims are suffering under the latest episode of Chinese government crackdown on their ethnic minority in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
“If any religious figure discusses Ramadan during the course of religious activities, or encourages people to take part, then they will lose their license to practice,” Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uighur Congress, told Eurasia Review on Friday, August 5.
http://muslimvillage.com/2011/08/06/...ng-in-ramadan/Quote:
No Fasting
Beijing slapped severe restrictions on Chinese Muslims as the holy fasting month of Ramadan started.
As for Muslim members of the government throughout Xinjiang, the government forced them to sign “letters of responsibility” promising to avoid fasting, evening prayers, or other religious activities.
“Fasting during Ramadan is a traditional ethnic custom, and they are allowed to do that,” an employee who answered the phone at a local government neighborhood committee office in the regional capital Urumqi said confirming the restrictions.
“But they aren’t allowed to hold any religious activities during Ramadan,” she added.
“Party members are not allowed to fast for Ramadan, and neither are civil servants.”
As for private companies, Uighur Muslim employees were offered lunches during fasting hours.
Anyone who refuses to eat could lose their annual bonus, or even their job, Raxit added.
Officials have also targeted Muslim schoolchildren, providing them with free lunches during the fasting period.
A Uighur resident of Beijing said students under 18 are forbidden from fasting during Ramadan. Moreover, government campaigns forced restaurants in the Muslim majority region to stay open all day.
More restrictions were also imposed on people trying to attend prayers at mosques.
People can still carry on with deprivations and social injustice.
However, it is a different matter when religion is trifled with, more so with the Muslims, who are, amongst all religions, more zealous in observing the rites and rules of their Faith.
While other religions have changed with the times, but not so Islam since from the 10th Century, Ijtihad has been discontinued.
Ramadan or Ramazan is a Islamic religious event which has great importance for all Muslim.
But then the Chinese are also correct in their own way since they do not allow religion to upset stability or tranquillity as it is a departure from their concept of egalitarianism.
And they are very sensitive about 'foreign' religions like Christianity and Islam.
China seeks military bases in Pakistan, by Amir Mir. Asia Times, 26 October 2011.
Quote:
ISLAMABAD - While Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at its southwestern seaport of Gwadar in Balochistan province, Beijing is more interested in setting up military bases either in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan or in the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) that border Xinjiang province.
The Chinese desire is meant to contain growing terrorist activities of Chinese rebels belonging to the al-Qaeda-linked East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) that is also described as the Turkistani Islamic Party (TIP).
The Chinese Muslim rebels want the creation of an independent Islamic state and are allegedly being trained in the tribal areas of Pakistan. According to well-placed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, Beijing's wish for a military presence in Pakistan was discussed at length by the political and military leadership of both countries in recent months as China (which views the Uyghur separatist sentiment as a dire threat) has become ever-more concerned about Pakistan's tribal areas as a haven for radicals.
Beijing believes that similar to the United States military presence in Pakistan, a Chinese attendance would enable its military to effectively counter the Muslim separatists who have been operating from the tribal areas of Pakistan for almost a decade, carrying out cross-border terrorist activities in trouble-stricken Xinjiang province.
An insight into a region we rarely know much about, although I expect we've noted this international group and muttered "So, what?".
I refer to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (the Chinese-instigated regional grouping encompassing nearby Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia).
Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...-its-role.aspxQuote:
According to the analysts and diplomats at the table, China's influence is based on cooperation, development and mutual interests. China's 'soft power' (a term that is not popular in Beijing) is its ability to let countries develop at their own rate. When China looks to the region, it sees nations that are beset with problems, but ones that China cannot and should not address. Instead, Beijing has constructed the SCO.
The purpose of the SCO is not to supplant the EU, US or Russia, but rather to create a mechanism. We were told our tendency to view the SCO as a 'NATO of the East' — a view we pointedly said we did not concur with — was merely a product of a Western bias built on the assumption that some sort of China threat lurks behind every corner. The SCO is young and regionally focused. Afghanistan, they reassured us, was something the SCO had always been concerned about and would address in the future.
So far, it has done very little.
There is a telling couple of phrases at the end, which i will copy to the main thread on China as an emerging superpower.
Quote:
China is the world's foremost rising power and her influence will be felt wherever she pops up. As we sat down to a sumptuous meal around a large garlanded table after our discussion, our new Chinese friends gave us no sense of having really thought through the implications of what their newfound accidental influence means.
The impression was rather that China is stumbling onto power it does not want, and with which it doesn't know what to do.
Since the disorder and crackdown in 2009 the situation in Urumchi has changed according to visitors. Within the police there was criticism of the sizeable Uighur minority in the police for failing to respond properly, tension remains high and the amount of inter-communal interaction - outside work - has fallen off, e.g. eating out. State institutions require staff to provide security 24/7 and to ensure there is a capability to work beyond normal operating hours (hospitals, schools etc).
Some see a difference between long established Han residents and the "incomer" Han, both legal and the substantial numbers who are undocumented and are less restrained in tolerance of other cultures.
As the population balance changes some within state security envisage increasing stability, citing when a minority dips below 10% locally national experience shows that disputes end.
In the 2000 Census in Urumchi / Urumqi found Uighurs were 12.8% and Han Chinese 75.3%; I would have expected this has altered since then.
Link for demography:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/po..._very_delicateQuote:
The Chinese people are increasingly frustrated with the Chinese Communist Party and the political situation in China is "very, very delicate," U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke said on Wednesday.
"I do believe that there is a power of the people, and there is a growing frustration among the people over the operations of government, corruption, lack of transparency, and issues that affect the Chinese people on a daily basis that they feel are being neglected," Locke told NPR's Steve Inskeep during a Wednesday interview, part of a media blitz Locke is conducting during his visit to Washington.
China cut off internet in area of Tibetan unrest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...tibetan-unrestQuote:
Internet connections and mobile phone signals were cut for 30 miles around scene of clashes in Sichuan, state media reports
See also
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=5097
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/wo....html?src=recgQuote:
At least 12 people were killed Tuesday in riots near the Chinese city of Kashgar in the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang, state media reported. The report provided no details on how the violence began, but there have been periodic outbreaks of antigovernment violence in Xinjiang Province by restless members of the Uighur ethnic group.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...?newsfeed=true
I appears China is getting a bit uncomfortable with Pakistani sponsored terrorism.
Chinese authorities have asked Pakistan to hand over members of the extremist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) believed to be operating out of the country, naming six terror suspects in a list issued on Friday that described the group as the "most direct and real safety threat that China faces".
The six men were “core members” of the ETIM, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. They were identified as Nurmemet Memetmin, Abdulkyum Kurban, Paruh Tursun, Tursunjan Ebibla, Nurmemet Raxit and Mamat Imin Nurmamat – all Uighurs, the ethnic Turkic Muslim minority from China’s far-western Xinjiang region which borders Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
While the ministry's statement stopped short of stating directly their links to terror camps in Pakistan – it only mentioned "a South Asian country” – a separate statement from the Chinese government issued last year identified Mr. Memetmin as having trained terrorists in Pakistan to carry out attacks in the city of Kashgar that left at least 20 people dead.
Mr. Nurmamat was also believed to be in Pakistan, according to Chinese analysts. The Ministry of Public Security said he had fled China after an explosion triggered accidentally at a bomb-making terror unit in Shache, Xinjiang that was plotting an attack in October 2009.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/interna...cle3287906.ece
Given the report that it was the Red Mosque followers kidnapping of a bus-load of Chinese sex workers in Islamabad was "straw that broke the camel's back" and led to then President Musharraf's decision to use lethal force to "resolve" the occupation of the mosque - there is a history of Chinese matters having an impact on Pakistani decision-making.
I am sure historians would cite other incidents.
At the same time China has been reluctant to support Pakistan at times too.
One wonders how heavy a presence today in Pakistan is there of Chinese security & intelligence agencies?
China Seeking Counter-Uighur Military Bases In Pakistan?
In its effort to combat separatist Uighur groups, China is apparently seeking to establish military bases in the part of Pakistan that borders the Uighurs' home province of Xinjiang. That's according to Pakistani journalist Amir Mir, writing in Asia Times:
While Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at its southwestern seaport of Gwadar in Balochistan province, Beijing is more interested in setting up military bases either in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan or in the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) that border Xinjiang province.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64379
*************
Given the relationship with the US currently, China is Pakistan's only hope.
They will have to give way to the Chinese.
But it will create problems and they may get bogged down.
Kashgar Officials Blame Pakistan for Harboring Uyghur Terrorists
Since U.S.-Pakistan relations took a nosedive following the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, Islamabad has appeared to try to woo China as its new superpower ally; Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, called China "Pakistan's best friend" on a visit to Beijing shortly after the bin Laden raid. But the courtship is hitting a rocky patch: Chinese officials say that attacks in the far western city of Kashgar over the weekend were planned in Pakistan, in Uyghur terror training camps there........
Uyghur activists, along with several foreign experts quoted in these news stories, suggested that blaming Pakistan was an attempt to dodge the fact that it is in fact local people, angry with Beijing's heavy-handed rule over the Uyghur-dominated province of Xinjiang, who are rising up. But the fact that they're pointing the finger at Pakistan is probably making some people in Islamabad pretty nervous. China takes the Uyghur issue VERY seriously, and if they really think that Pakistan is actually harboring Uyghur terrorists, the two countries aren't going to be best friends for long.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63983
Note that the Chinese have blamed Pakistan for Uighur Terrorism openly and have named the terrorists and confiscated their property as also impounding their bank accounts.
They never did it so openly before.
So, that means that they are getting tough with Pakistan?Quote:
China Blames Foreign-Trained Separatists for Attacks in Xinjiang
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/wo...a/02china.html
Wrong.
It is to build up an excuse to demand operating bases in NWFP and FATA so that they can take on the Uighur rebels!
Even that is wrong.
They are wanting to plonk themselves between the US in Afghanistan and Pakistan so that Pakistan can breathe since the US will not then use Drones or carry out cross border raids. This will endear them to the Pakistani population.
Then they will carry out movement into Afghanistan once the US leaves so that their hold around the area become firm and their routes into Iran and its ports including Chahbahar (constructed by India) becomes a reality. And because of that they are supporting Iran against the US at all international forums.
Quote:
China Seeking Counter-Uighur Military Bases In Pakistan?
In its effort to combat separatist Uighur groups, China is apparently seeking to establish military bases in the part of Pakistan that borders the Uighurs' home province of Xinjiang. That's according to Pakistani journalist Amir Mir, writing in Asia Times:
While Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at its southwestern seaport of Gwadar in Balochistan province, Beijing is more interested in setting up military bases either in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan or in the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) that border Xinjiang province.
China Seeking Counter-Uighur Military Bases In Pakistan? | EurasiaNet.org
Hard Love and Empty Promises: China’s Domestic Counterinsurgency in Xinjiang
Entry Excerpt:
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Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
IMO this is the first such attempt to hijack a plane:Link:http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/ch..._131684620.htmQuote:
Air crew and passengers on Friday foiled the attempted hijacking of an aircraft with 100 people on board in China's far west Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, local police said. At least ten people were injured. Two flight policemen were seriously injured, head attendant and seven passengers were slightly injured in the fight with hijackers, police said
Now are the suspects locals or infiltrators from Pakistan?
Perhaps, but in the past China has gone to great lengths to suppress any news covering their internal security issues. They have ongoing challenges with the Uyghers (a Muslim ethnic group in Western China), and some Uyghers (very few) have established ties with Islamists in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but that distorts the real issue which more similiar to the ethnic/cultural conflict/tension China has with Tibet.Quote:
IMO this is the first such attempt to hijack a plane
Over the years there have been several bombings in some parts of China (buses were a popular target). Who knows what else is going on in this regard. This may be the first hijacking attempt, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. I doubt we'll ever hear the full story, or Paul Harvey's "the rest of the story" about this episode.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p...89.html#victim
U.S. State Department Travel Advise (politically correct, but fairly accurate)
.Quote:
Violent crime isnot common in China, but violent demonstrations can erupt without warning and in past years there have been somefatal bombings and explosions which could pose a random threat to foreign visitors in the area. The vast majority of these local incidents are related to disputes over land seizures, social issues, employment disputes, environmental problems, or conflicts involving ethnic minorities. Some incidents have become large-scale and involved criminal activity, including hostage taking and vandalism
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/violen...jiang-province
Violence Escalates in China’s Xinjiang Province SEP 2011
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=295&catid=8Quote:
The Chinese government almost always attributes attacks in Xinjiang to jihadist ideology and foreign-linked terrorist groups, while pro-Uighur organizations almost always explain violence in Xinjiang as a local byproduct of the government’s policies. For example, the Chinese government called the Hotan incident a “severe terrorist attack,”[2] while the World Uighur Congress[3] blamed the violence on Chinese authorities forcefully breaking up a “peaceful demonstration.”
TERRORISM AND BOMBINGS IN CHINA
.Quote:
Explosions, both accidental and intentional, are common in China. In 1998, there were 2,500 bomb blasts in a nine month period. Among the 30 bombings in a 10 day period in 2001, was a blast at a McDonald’s in the tourist town of Xian that killed five people and injured 28, an explosion at a French department store in Qindao that killed and injured no one and 23 blasts in the Guangdong port cities of Zhanjiang and Jiangmen
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Many explosions are not related to terrorism. Easy-to-obtain industrial explosives are often used in attacks blamed on gangsters, jilted lovers and others and used to settle grievances. In past years, disgruntled Chinese citizens have set off explosions near buildings or on buses. Such "sudden incidents", as China refers to them, underscore broader government worries about stability in the world's second-largest economy, with a widening gap between rich and poor and growing anger at corruption and over environmental issues. In March 2001, 108 people were killed in explosions at four apartment housed in Shijazhuang, Hebei Province by a man who was seeking revenge against relatives that angered him
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/ch..._131510187.htm
China publishes names of six terrorists APR 2012
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The six were all core members of the terrorist group "East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM)," according to a statement issued Thursday by the Ministry of Public Security.
They have participated in the organization, and planned and executed terrorist acts against Chinese targets within and outside the country, the ministry said in the statement on its official website.
http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE08802E.shtml
From the UN
QE.E.88.02. EASTERN TURKISTAN ISLAMIC MOVEMENT APR 2011
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In recent years, ETIM has set up bases outside China to train terrorists and has dispatched its members to China to plot and execute terrorist acts including bombing buses, cinemas, department stores, markets and hotels. ETIM has also undertaken assassinations and arson attacks and has carried out terrorist attacks against Chinese targets abroad. Among the violent acts committed by ETIM members were the blowing up of the warehouse of the Urumqi Train Station on 23 May 1998, the armed looting of 247,000 RMB Yuan in Urumqi on 4 February 1999, an explosion in Hetian City, Xinjiang, on 25 March 1999 and violent resistance against arrest in Xinhe County, Xinjiang, on 18 June 1999. These incidents resulted in the deaths of 140 people and injuries to 371.
Hopefully the above provides some context.Quote:
At the beginning of March 2008, ETIM sent its operatives to China in an attempt to kidnap foreign reporters, tourists and athletes. This cell covertly collected various materials for making explosives, identified technicians with expertise in making guns and explosives, looked for suicide bombers and attempted to carry out terrorist acts through suicide bombings in Urumqi and other cities inside China. On 26 March 2008, Chinese authorities arrested several cell members and seized a large number of explosives, detonators and other explosive devices.
An Indian analyst's commentary 'Alienated People and an Overcautious state in China’s Xinjiang':http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/Alie...RgDDu4.twitter
Raffaello Pantucci examies the PRC claim that East Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIM) are present in Syria and concludes:Link:http://raffaellopantucci.com/2012/12...n-battlefield/Quote:
..in terms of advancing their core agenda of attacking China, the latest round of videos and activity does not seem to provide much evidence that the movement is moving in this direction in any effective way.
Interesting to note the Turkish activity with PRC, although Turkey has aspired for sometime to a greater role in the region.
An article in Critical Terrorism Studies, so behind a paywall and so from the Abstract:Link:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...53.2012.753202Quote:
This article presents a case study of China, a regime that has been fighting Uyghur separatism and terrorism since its founding in 1949 with authoritarian means. However, while authoritarian crackdowns in Xinjiang have ensured tactical respites leading to periods of relative stability, strategically China has facilitated the construction of a threat more radical than the initial Uyghur challenge. Thus, before September 11 China acknowledged links between Uyghur terrorism and separatism. After September 11, however, China announced it was fighting a war against international terrorist groups in Xinjiang. And while this rhetoric gained international acknowledgement, it at the same time has affected the nature of Uyghur terrorism, which has shifted in response to China's framing. As a result, today we are witnessing transformations in the East Turkistan Islamic Movement activities, which are becoming increasingly reliant on al-Qaeda's guidance and support.
http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_...le.asp?id=4347
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Claims that ETIM has ties to al-Qaeda, Usama bin Laden, and the Taliban persist. Many reputable sources debate whether or not al-Qaeda has provided the group with training and financial assistance. The US Department of State, in its 2005 report on terrorism, states that ETIM is "linked to al-Qaida and the international jihadist movement" and that al-Qaeda has provided ETIM with "training and financial assistance". Another US government website reports that one ETIM leader was killed in a raid on al-Qaeda safehouses in Pakistan. The Chinese government has been known to exaggerate the connection between ETIM and al-Qaeda to enlist the support of the United States in endorsing China's social control tactics in Xinjiang. It is likely that members of ETIM have had contact with al-Qaeda elements, but no high-level contacts have been established.
Credibility of the following link unknown:Quote:
ETIM has been implicated in terrorist plots against US interests in the Central Asia region, including a foiled plot to attack the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan.
http://coffeeandsleeplessnights.word...rs/#more-11845
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opi...637916112.htmlQuote:
Al-Qaeda’s longstanding use of children to wage jihad was on display in a recent video showing boys as young as five training with assault rifles and handguns at a terrorist training camp.
The video of the gun-toting, prepubescent jihadists was reportedly filmed by the al-Qaeda-linked East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) at one of the terror group’s training camps in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region.
Since 1990 the ETIM, which has been fighting to create an independent Islamic state in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, has not only committed more than 200 acts of worldwide terrorism but has trained scores of jihadists to fight alongside al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Article discusses the economic importance of the region (Silk Road hopes) and the interests of a number of countries.
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After the opening of the Karakoram Highway between China and Pakistan, up to the mid-1990s thousands of young Uyghurs studied Islam abroad, going to religious schools in Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. A few also went to Yemen and Qatar.
The problem, China would argue, is that those who returned to Xinjiang were in most cases Deobandis, Salafis and Wahhabis. Over the past few years Uyghurs returning from Central Asia also opened Hizb-ut Tahrir cells in Xinjiang. Hizb-ut Tahrir is extremely critical of Beijing's policies.
Oil and gas-rich Xinjiang consists of 1.6mn square kilometres, vast deserts, and borders no less than 8 Asian countries. Xinjiang is much more than China's "frontline against terrorism". It is also at the core of China's dream of being the star of the New Silk Road.
A long BBC report on the latest violence in Sinkiang Province, in a small rural town, where twenty-one have died and just why is hotly disputed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22319579
China’s Black Hole
Let's face it: We have little idea what's actually going on in Xinjiang and Tibet.
BY ISAAC STONE FISH | APRIL 26, 2013
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Tuesday's alleged incident was the deadliest since riots in July 2009 killed nearly 200 people. Tibet is worse. The independent watchdog organization Freedom House annually ranks countries and territories on their level of political rights and civil liberties. The group's most recent report, released Jan 2013, included Tibet in its "Worst of the Worst" category, joining North Korea and Somalia.
This is just the media, but suspect our diplomats and intelligence even have less access and understanding of what is actually happening on the ground. Official statements from China are rejected immediately it seems, while statements from activist groups are quickly embraced as true.Quote:
In March 2012, Peter Ford, a veteran foreign correspondent for Christian Science Monitor, published an article entitled "In China, reporting on Tibetan and Uighur unrest is nearly impossible."
I think the reality is we have little idea of what is actually happening in most parts of the world outside the very limited awareness zone of our Embassies. Most media representatives focus on whatever the cool story of the year is and report to influence instead of reporting to inform the public.
Just being aware of this should encourage us to stop and question our understanding before we even start considering our potential positions or responses to these incidents.
Thanks to a "lurker" two Chinese articles, first a report which follows the human angle:http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...t_16466718.htm
Then an editorial, with a interesting, if odd comparison between terrorism in China compared to elsewhere. Plus a frank admission, I think:Link:http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/77...l#.UYJiAKLvvfJQuote:
The terrorist activities are committed mainly under the influence of terrorist thought and partly because of dissatisfaction with local governments and the Han people.
A RUSI commentary, with a taster:Link:http://www.rusi.org/analysis/comment...518117F9CA2D2/Quote:
The security model spearheaded by Wang Lequan, therefore, has outlasted the man himself. Indeed, house-to-house inspections in Uyghur neighbourhoods, including the one that reportedly sparked last week's violence in Selibuya, are a core function of Wang's other major innovation - the system of 'comprehensive security management.' These heavy handed policing techniques are despised by the Uyghur community, and have been repeatedly cited by Western human rights organisations as a major driver of unrest.
http://news.sky.com/story/1108240/ch...ce-in-xinjiangQuote:
At least 27 people have been killed and three others injured after knife-wielding gangs went on the rampage through a town in far western China, according to state media. The Xinhua news agency said mobs attacked police stations, a local government building and a construction site in the Turpan Oasis in the Turkic-speaking Xinjiang region. Nine police officers and security guards, as well as eight civilians, were killed before police shot dead 10 of the attackers.