China’s Convenient War On Terror

Without a doubt the “war on terror” has been America’s greatest contribution to the world in the 21st Century. For the majority of mankind, September 11th and the subsequent crusade that proceeded has been a nightmare. A humanitarian disaster.
However, for many for the callous political elite around the world its has been a great gift. An ideological blank check for the larger nations to consolidate their influence. A veritable vampiric orgy of blood, money and power. This “war on terror” has provided the pretense for wholesale domination and intimidation. Whether it is America with Iraq, Israel with Palestine or Russia with Chechnya, the war against the muslim world has been given a renewed impetus.

The war on terror has now even extended beyond the steppes of central asia all the way to Beijing. In China’s halls of power, politicians are also attaching the bumper-sticker “war on terror” label to age old conflicts in the Xinjiang region. As in many other countries, those who struggle for sovereignty or autonomy are now considered terrorists.
Much like Tibet, Xinjiang previously enjoyed independence and then faced subsequent domination by communist China in years following the second world war. The cynical Chinese communist party has now made the claim that those fighting against the Chinese imperial ambitions in Xinjiang have been aided or supported by Al Qaida. But the truth is that Al Qaida’s rather brief but noisy twenty year history is little comment on a struggle that has persisted for more than a hundred years. The only difference between Tibet and Xinjiang is fact that the latter is a largely Muslim minority, and therefore somehow, not to be given same degree of international attention. Campaigning for a free Tibet is a nobel cause, but to ignore the struggle of the Xinjiang province reveals a grave hypocrisy or possibly even Islamaphobia.