THE INTERPRETER - 6 February 2015
Despite China's long-standing diplomatic principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states, Beijing cannot completely control its citizens' involvement in terrorist activity abroad. Whether China likes it or not, it is being drawn into the conflict against ISIS. China's state media yesterday reported that three Chinese ISIS militants were executed in 2014 following their attempted desertion from the terrorist organisation.
Quoting an unnamed Kurdish security official, a reporter for the
Global Times wrote that one militant was killed in Syria in September
after becoming disillusioned and trying to return to the Turkish
university where he had been a student. The other two were beheaded in
December along with 11 other militants from six different
nationalities.
In response to the report, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson simply stated:
'China opposes all forms of terrorism. China is willing to strengthen
cooperation with the international community to fight together against
terrorist forces, including the "East Turkestan Islamic Movement
(ETIM)", in order to protect regional and global security and
stability.'
This standard statement effectively summarises the Chinese
Government's thinking on counter-terrorism: the emphasis is on the
international community's cooperation with China in its fight against
the threats of domestic terrorism and separatism (ETIM is an Islamic
terrorist organisation founded by Uyghur
militants in western China), while China's cooperation with the
international community in its fight against international terrorist
organisations remains limited.
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