China — looking terror in the eye

In condemning terrorist acts, China must ensure it does not place onus of hatred generated on one ethnicity, religion.

A recent terror attack at China’s Kunming Railway Station (spring city of China) by knife-wielding attackers resulted in the massacre of 33 people (28 civilians and five terrorists) and injured scores of others. It is believed to have been orchestrated by, at least, 10 male and female terrorists, leaving a gory scene at the train terminal with photos and videos showing bodies, pools of blood and abandoned luggage scattered across the terminal floor. Chinese authorities are terming this an “organised, premeditated, violent terrorist attack.” The witnesses have described the assailants to be dressed in black, charging through the station and slashing indiscriminately with large knives and machetes.

The attack follows an earlier act of terror in October last year when militants drove a jeep through pedestrians in the ‘Forbidden City’, killing two tourists as well as the three occupants of the vehicle –– leaving another 40 people injured.

These despicable killings have been blamed on militants from the western region of Xinjiang, which is home to tensions between the government and separatists, who feel that their culture is being overrun by the Han Chinese. The region borders Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan and its eight million Turkish-speaking Uyghurs are an ethnic group that share close linguistic and cultural links with Central Asia, distinct from the majority Han community. Several attacks have already been blamed on militants residing there, exhibiting anger and dissatisfaction against the Chinese government.

In the wake of these attacks, the Chinese president has instructed law enforcement agencies to “severely punish, in accordance with the law, the violent terrorists and resolutely crack down on those who have been swollen with a rampant attitude.” He has ordered firm suppression of the momentum that the terrorists are trying to generate.

Pakistan has “strongly condemned the barbaric terrorist attack at a train station in the Yunnan province of China” and has “extended all possible cooperation to China in combating this menace.” The Chinese would definitely be requiring Pakistani support in countering the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which is considered to be the source of such attacks.

On the political front, the Chinese government is planning ambitious social, economic and political reforms outlined during November’s Third Plenary Session to attempt to bridge the widening economic gap between its western and eastern parts. Now it is up to President Xi Jinping and his administration to implement these reforms, while managing all the inherited pressures of China’s economic slowdown.

In the course of implementation, China is likely to experience frustrations in trying to balance change against growing social and political constraints and is hence, likely to gradually shift away from the earlier consensus-based decision-making to a more decisive model. An incremental and cautious approach is needed, both in applying reforms domestically and in trying to define a sphere of influence in its neighbourhood.

From the look of things, the Communist Party is showing signs of moving beyond its model of collective leadership to build a more consolidated party centered on President Xi. Deng Xiaoping’s strongman leadership model has become attractive, based on the belief that it would help the country take critical decisions at a time of some unprecedented domestic and international challenges.

While condemning the dastardly terrorist acts, China has to ensure that it does not place the onus of hatred generated by these attacks on one ethnicity or religion. The Chinese leadership needs to address the situation with its traditional vision and calm; much more than a kneejerk reaction is required. Brutal repression is likely to generate further tensions and complications and give an opportunity to external actors to voice their concerns. The response has to be calibrated with an amalgamation of economic incentives, religious freedoms and effective implementation of the rule of law. Is President Xi up to the challenge?

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2014.

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