China and the Global Jihad Network

Abstract

The global jihadist network in Eurasia is growing as terrorism spreads from the Middle East to the geographically broader “arc of instability,” which covers North Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia. Influenced by their close ties with global jihadism, the terrorist groups targeting China openly challenge the legitimacy of China's administration in Xinjiang by raising the banners of liberty, freedom, and human rights, while advocating attacks against civilians to arouse worldwide attention. Pressured by the terrorists, some nonviolent Xinjiang separatist groups are becoming increasingly radical in their actions. To address the “three evil” forces of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, Beijing has emphasized economic and social development in western China and pursued a “three-ring” strategy for antiterrorism consisting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China-India-Israel antiterrorism cooperation, and tacit China-U.S.-Pakistan cooperation. The 2010 Shanghai World Expo and its counterterrorism protocols will test the efficacy of this approach.

KEYWORDS:

• China
• “arc of instability,” counterterrorism
• terrorism
• “three-ring strategy”

Notes

¹The “arc of instability” refers to a proposed, interconnected chain of politically unstable nation states in the Asia-Pacific region. See Clive Moore, Happy Isles in Crisis (Canberra: Asia Pacific Press, 2004), 9.

²Hari Kumar and Alan Cowell, “Bomb Attacks in India Kill at Least 67,” New York Times, October 30, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/world/asia/30iht-31assam.17372786.html (accessed September 16, 2010).

³Norimitsu Onishi, “Indonesia Bombings Signal Militants' Resilience,” New York Times, July 18, 2009, A4.

⁴Degang Sun, “China-India-Israel Quasi-Alliance Needed,” Journal of Power Politics 11, no. 10 (November 2009): 16.

⁵“Hawala,” The Economist, http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/searchActionTerms.cfm?query=hawala accessed July 1, 2010.

⁶Degang Sun, “The Middle East Factor in Pakistani Terrorist Groups,” South Asian Studies Quarterly 14, no. 3 (2008): 16.

⁷Bill Roggio, “U.S. Airstrike Killed 15 Turkistan Islamic Party Fighters in Afghanistan,” The Long War Journal, January 23, 2010. http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/01/us_airstrike_killed_1.php (accessed September 15, 2010). See also “Afghanistan: U.S. Drone Strike Kills 15,” New York Times, January 23, 2010, A9.

⁸Jiemian Yang and Nianyu Zhao, International Terrorism and the Contemporary International Relations (Guiyang: Guizhou People's Publishing House, 2002), 363–364.

⁹Weilie Zhu, A Study of Counter-Terrorism in the Middle East (Beijing: Shishi Publishing House, 2010), 427.

¹⁰Binghua Ying, “Analysis of International Terrorism and Its Implication to China,” Journal of Jilin Public Security Academy 14, no. 5 (2009): 69.

¹¹Information Office, State Council of China, “East Turkistan” Terrorist Groups and Their Crimes (Beijing: Information Office of the State Council, 2002), 1.

¹²Martin I. Wayne, China's War on Terrorism: Counter-Insurgency, Politics and International Security (New York: Routledge, 2008), 44.

¹³Lianhe Hu, Viewing Terrorism from the Third Eye (Beijing: World Knowledge, 2002), 90.

¹⁴Binghua Ying, “International Terrorist Crimes and China's Public Security Department's Response,” Journal of Yunnan Police Officer Academy 10, no. 6 (2009): 77.

¹⁵Musa, “The Detrimental Drugs in China's Western Regions and the Political Issues of Building a Well-Off Society in an All-Round Way,” Liaowang Oriental Weekly, 44, no. 38 (2004): 46.

¹⁶Information Office of China's State Council, “A White Paper of the Development and Progress of Xinjiang,” September 21, 2009; Jing Yang, “On the Current Situation and Counter-Measures of East Turkistan Terrorism,” Theory Research 31, no. 11 (2009): 13.

¹⁷Qiang Guo, “Urumqi Vows to Stem Syringe Attacks,” Global Times, September 8, 2009, A1.

¹⁸Guang Pan and Guojun Zhao, “The New Change and Its Dynamics of East Turkistan Forces Since ‘9/11' Terrorist Attacks,” Journal of Contemporary International Relations 27, no. 10 (2008): 48.

¹⁹Hu Jian, “Analysis of the World Uyghur Congress,” Social Outlook 7, no. 8 (2009): 5.

²⁰Ai mai-ti and Rui Feng, “On the Cross-National Habitation and Distribution of the Uygur Nationality,” Journal of Xinjiang University 34, no. 4 (2008): 97.

²¹“Turkish Prime Minister Interferes in China's Internal Affairs,” Global Times, July 11, 2009, A1.

²²Guang Pan and Guojun Zhao, “Analysis of the Internationalization of World Uyghur Congress,” Contemporary International Relations 28, no. 9 (2009): 22.

²³Ibid., 23.

²⁴There seems to be discord between Erkin Alptekin and Rebiya Kadeer, because the former was regarded as the “Uyghur Dalai Lama,” the spiritual and political leader of the Congress. But since 2009, Erkin Alptekin has obviously been overshadowed by Rebiya Kadeer. See Rebiya Kadeer, “Not the Torch of Liberty,” Washington Post, April 1, 2008, A17.

²⁵Pan and Zhao, “The New Change and Its Dynamics of East Turkistan Forces Since ‘9/11' Terrorist Attacks,” 48.

²⁶Xinhua New Agency, “Xinjiang Autonomous Region Unmasked WUC and Rebiya Kadeer's Plot to Instigate the Urumqi Riot,” http://unn.people.com.cn/GB/14748/9625832.html (accessed July 1, 2010).

²⁷“Dolkun Isa, the Secretary of World Uyghur Congress, Is a Terrorist,” Jinhua Times, July 23, 2009, A24.

²⁸Li Lin, “Terrorist Crimes and Combat in China's Xinjiang and Its Neighboring Countries Within the Framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Journal of Bingtuan Education Institute 19, no. 3 (2009): 17.

²⁹Efraim Inbar, “The Indian-Israeli Entente,” Orbis 48, no. 1 (2004): 102.

³⁰“Sino-Indian Anti-Terror Exercise Has Ended,” http://news.sohu.com/20081214/n261198367.shtml (accessed July 1, 2010).

³¹“Israeli Anti-Terror Expert Ely Karmon Assists Shanghai World Expo,” Beijing Youth Daily, May 23, 2009, A11.

³²Degang Sun, “China-India-Israel Quasi-Alliance Needed,” 17.

³³Cheng Bao, and Gulxadi Turxun, “An International Cooperative Strategy of China's Crackdown on Separatism and Terrorism,” Journal of Xinjiang University (Philosophy, Humanities & Social Sciences) 37, no. 5 (2009): 103.

³⁴Bill Roggio, “US Airstrike Killed 15 Turkistan Islamic Party Fighters in Afghanistan,” The Long War Journal, January 23, 2010. http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/01/us_airstrike_killed_1.php (accessed September 15, 2010).

³⁵“Abdul Haq al-Turkistani Is Dead,” World Affairs Board, March 1, 2010. http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/rise-china/54889-abdul-haq-al-turkistani-dead.html (accessed July 1, 2010).

³⁶“China and Pakistan Cooperated to Combat ‘East Turkistan’ Terrorist Group, and Killed the Head,” Global Times, May 8, 2010 http://yz.2118.com.cn/news/html/2010-05-09/51307_1.htm (accessed September 16, 2010).

³⁷“President Hu Jintao Meets with Pakistan President and Highlights the Importance of Anti-Terror Cooperation,” http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/2010/07-07/2388083.shtml (accessed July 1, 2010).

³⁸Liu Jinqian, “A Comment on Obama's New Afghanistan-Pakistan Counter-Terror Strategy,” Journal of Arab World Studies 27, no. 6 (2009): 42.

³⁹Chenghong Li, “Limited Defensive Strategic Partnership: Sino-Russian Rapprochement and the Driving Forces,” Journal of Contemporary China 16, no. 52 (2007): 495.

⁴⁰Alexander Cooley, Base Politics: Democratic Change and the U.S. Military Overseas (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008), 6.

⁴¹Lianzhong Li, “The Art of War and China's Anti-Terror Tactics,” Journal of Political Science and Law 26, no. 5 (2009): 110.

⁴²Editorial, “The Central Work Conference of Xinjiang and the New Progress of Good Governance of CPCCC,” People's Daily, May 21, 2010, A1.

⁴³Lixin Zhu, “International Cooperation on Countering Terrorist Crimes and the Improvement of China's Legislation,” Journal of National Prosecutors College 17, no. 6 (2009): 25.

⁴⁴Nowadays, Hong Kong and Macau have antiterror laws, but Mainland China does not. See Yunyun Sun and Huiyun Duan, “On the Situation and Improvement of China's International Cooperation on Anti-Terrorism,” Economy and Law 21, no. 1 (2010): 63.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Degang Sun

DEGANG SUN is working on a postdoctoral program at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, and meanwhile is an associate professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University. This article was prepared as part of the project on “Quasi-Alliance Diplomacy and Big Powers' Quasi-Alliance Strategies,” a key innovation research program at the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. The author wishes to express his sincere thanks to Dr. Ely Karmon and Dr. J. Peter Pham for their valuable suggestions and advice on this article.