Cont'd from previous post due to character limit
Assessment of Threats
TIP / Al-Qaeda
Despite the increasing numbers of attacks by networks of Uighur militants in China, the threat to China from such attacks remains an issue of human security—not national security. The rising death toll of Chinese citizens in these attacks are “only” in the several hundreds each year. Even if they were in thousands, however, this would hardly lead China to yield to the demands of groups like the TIP and ETESA for the construction of an Islamic state and ending, among other policies:
· The migration of Han Chinese from eastern China to Xinjiang;
· Use of Chinese language in schools in Xinjiang;
· Encouragement of inter-marriage between Han and Uighurs and job offers for Uighur women in eastern China (where presumably they would assimilate or marry Han Chinese);
· Restrictions on offspring (Uighurs and most Chinese minorities have, however, had fewer restrictions as part of the former “one-child policy” than Han families); and
· Testing of nuclear weapons in Xinjiang (Militant Leadership Monitor, December 30, 2011)
Beyond attacks in China, what also could place pressure on China are actions by states. Thus, TIP, ETESA and other Islamist organizations have adopted a “Palestine strategy” of framing China’s rule in Xinjiang as an “occupation,” delegitimizing Chinese sovereignty, and ultimately seeking an international referendum on Xinjiang’s status (presumably parts of northwestern Xinjiang where Han already far outnumber Uighurs would not be included in such a vote). [1] This strategy may be of greater relevance to China as a state than the human security losses as resulting from Uighur militancy (China Brief, May 23, 2014). While the prospects of any such referendum occurring in the near-term future is highly unlikely, there is some evidence that this narrative is finding sympathetic ears:
· Then Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called Chinese rule in Xinjiang a “genocide” in 2009 (Hurriyet, July 14, 2009);
· The TIP held territory in northwestern Syria as part of the coalition with Jabhat Al-Nusra with support from Turkey or Turkey-based organizations, which furthered support and recognition of the TIP from supporters of Jabhat Al-Nusra around the Muslim world; [2] and
· The prospect of re-shaping the borders in the Middle East that could lead to new conceptions of sovereignty and statehood—not only in that region but elsewhere throughout the Islamic World, including Central Asia and Xinjiang
Thus, it is the mobilization potential of groups like the TIP or ETESA, which merge pan-Islamist themes with Uighur nationalism while accepting—and even promoting—violent struggle, or “jihad” (even though ETESA may not directly participate in it) that may become the broader national security issue for China to deal with in the future. In fact, China’s counterterrorism success in preventing the TIP from gaining the traction to begin a full-blown insurgency in Xinjiang capable of anything beyond a few sporadic albeit deadly attacks may have forced the TIP and ETESA to become increasingly close in their respective “cheerleading” and “advocacy” roles.
The Islamic State
Despite the Islamic State’s overall expansion beyond Iraq and Syria in 2015, its direct threat to China is still low compared to other regions. The Islamic State announced it killed Chinese and Norwegian hostages in its magazine, Dabiq, in November 2015 after having first offered them for “sale.” But the focus of its propaganda in terms of killing hostages is still mostly on Westerners or, in some cases, their allies, such as the Japanese (SCMP, November 20, 2015). Moreover, closer to China’s borders, Southeast Asian jihadists are not yet sufficiently unified for the Islamic State to announce a Province in South East Asia, despite the bayat (pledges) to Islamic State leader Abubakar Al-Baghdadi from several Indonesian and Philippine factions since 2014. Nonetheless, in terms of logistics the Islamic State has funding and immigrant support networks in the Persian Gulf region, Malaysia, Hong Kong and even Japan that can facilitate its “infrastructure-building” in Southeast Asia ahead of a possible Province announcement in 2016 (isisstudygroup, October 15, 2015).
In addition, while the TIP has focused on appealing to recruits from the Chinese Hui and Chinese Kazakh minorities more than the Islamic State, the Islamic State does not appear to have any “local” traction within China. The Islamic State’s apparent hacking of the prestigious Tsinghua University’s website on January 18, 2016 highlights the possibility of the “Islamization” of anti-government sentiment in China, which could lead to the growth in support for the Islamic State in the same way it has in Europe. [3] Some elites, including dissidents from Muslim minority communities, may also have sympathies for the Islamic State for religious, ideological or political reasons (SCMP, January 18).
While Islamic State consolidation in Southeast Asia and a smattering of support for it from within China would certainly be of concern within Chinese borders, no prospective Southeast Asian provinces or domestic pro-Islamic State movement would comprise a national security threat to major Chinese diplomatic or trade interests for the foreseeable future - even if they could harm the human security of Chinese nationals. Rather, China is likely more concerned about the arrival of the Islamic State in Afghanistan via its Khorasan Province, which subsumed the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and is intended to include Xinjiang and to subsume all of Central Asia. [4] Khorasan province does not appear to be more powerful than the Taliban or likely to control large tracts of territory in Afghanistan, but even fighting between Khorasan Province and the Taliban and Al-Qaeda or the Afghan government could further destabilize and complicate the economic and political situation in Afghanistan. This, in turn, would undermine Chinese strategic interests in Afghanistan and objectives of China’s New Silk Road and One Belt, One Road plan road at a time when China is considering elevating trade with Iran following the U.S. “Iran Deal” and its international profile with expected visits of President Xi to Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2016 (SCMP, January 15).
Conclusion
The threat of non-state actors to China such as the TIP, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State can influence Chinese state policies, priorities and objectives. Thus, even though this article assesses that these threats mostly concern the human security rather than the national security of China and its citizens, they do indirectly affect China’s power projection, counter-terrorism calculus and foreign policy. These threats also have the potential to affect China’s level of engagement abroad, including its use of special forces overseas, new counter-terrorism laws, pressure relationships with allies (such as Pakistan to crack down on anti-Chinese militancy), tacit support to other governments’ foreign policies (such as Russia’s airstrikes in Syria), and its academic understandings and trainings in counterterrorism studies. Thus, the role of non-state actors is relevant not only in terms of security affairs but also in broader diplomacy, relationships, and engagement with China.
Jacob Zenn is a Fellow of Eurasian and African Affairs at The Jamestown Foundation. Mr. Zenn graduated as a Global Law Scholar from Georgetown Law in 2011 and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Nanjing Center for Chinese-American Studies in Nanjing, China in 2007.
Notes
1. Author’s Interview, ETESA supporter in USA, 2015
2. The start of the Russian bombing campaign in northwestern Syria in late 2015 appears, however, to have led to more than 30 TIP deaths and the destruction of TIP’s main headquarters as well as settlements where militants were living with their families.
3. Oliver Roy, “ International Terrorism: How can prevention and repression keep pace?” BKA Autumn Conference, November 18–19, 2015 life.eui.eu, November 18, 2015
4. The Taliban nonetheless reportedly killed or captured the IMU leader, Usman Ghazi, and killed other IMU members after Ghazi pledged to Al-Baghdadi such that the IMU may now be near-elimination.
