Great gall of China
1 min read . Updated: 29 Mar 2019, 02:03 AM ISTChina needs to consider double risk of its citizens getting radicalized by repression and terrorists across Himalayas and turning on it someday
Barely two weeks after an international effort to proscribe Masood Azhar of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was blocked by China at the Sanctions Committee, the US has moved a fresh draft resolution directly at the UN Security Council to designate him a global terrorist.
Given China’s veto and support for Pakistan, the new initiative might meet the same fate. Beijing, however, should rethink its stance, if not for others, then for its own sake.
China claims to be facing Islamist extremism in its Xinjiang region, even as the world is aghast at the abuse of lakhs of Uighurs held in detention camps that its regime calls “educational training centres".
On Wednesday, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo called out China’s hypocrisy in repressing these Muslims, while shielding actual terrorists elsewhere.
Beijing needs to consider the double risk of its citizens, getting radicalized by repression and terrorists across the Himalayas, turning on it someday. It could learn from the experience of others, the US in Afghanistan of the 80s, for example, that even if nursing violent groups helps achieve short-term goals, it could backfire and ignite trouble in its own backyard.