The jihadists might not find the bloodthirsty Chinese Communists as easy a mark as they have found Western governments to be.
"Militant urges targeting China over Uighurs," from Reuters, August 1 (thanks to Neil):
DUBAI (Reuters) – The leader of a group calling itself the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) urged Muslims to attack Chinese interests to punish Beijing for what he described as massacres against Uighur Muslims."They (Chinese) must be targeted both at home and abroad. Their embassies, consulates, centers and gathering places should be targeted," Abdul-Haq al-Turkistani said in a video posted on an Islamist website on Saturday.
"Their men should be killed and captured to seek the release of our brothers who are jailed in Eastern Turkistan ... Our duty, we in Eastern Turkistan, is to continue to resist without desperation," said Abdul-Haq, described by an al Qaeda-linked website as the leader of TIP.
Abdul-Haq, whose group has launched violent attacks in the past, accused China of committing "barbaric massacres" against Muslims in Xianjiang, which TIP calls East Turkistan....
Uighurs attacked Han Chinese in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, on July 5 after police tried to break up a protest against fatal attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China. Han Chinese in Urumqi launched revenge attacks later in the week.
The violence saw 197 people killed and more than 1,600 wounded, mostly Han Chinese. About 1,000 people, mostly Uighurs, have been detained in an ensuing government crackdown....
Abdul-Haq's face was digitally blurred in the Arabic-language version of the video which also contained a collage of footage of the violence in the region.
The militant was speaking with an assault rifle to his right and what appeared to be a pistol pouch strapped to his shoulder.
While we were still using Intensedebate, there was quite a lively discussion of this article. Alas - I appear not to have kept it.
I can, however, restore two of my own remarks, having found them in the IntenseDebate cache.
My first remark was as follows:
I am wary of China (I live in the neighbourhood, after all). But I fear Indonesia - rapidly Islamising sharia-fying Indonesia - much more, because Indonesia is a *very* short boat ride away from Australia's thinly populated northwest back doorstep (our *front* doorstep onto Asia). I pray for China - for its deliverance from the vile legacy of Mao and of the greedy, ruthless dictatorship that has followed him; and also for its victory over the Jihad.
And my second remark, was this:
'From the jihadist's announcement in the article - "They (Chinese) must be targeted both at home and abroad. Their embassies, consulates, centers and gathering places should be targeted".
'So: a Muslim jihadi has declared that 'the Chinese' are a legitimate target for vengeance because of what the Chinese communist government is doing to Uighur Muslims.
'Does this statement remind you of anything? It reminds *me*, oddly enough, of similar statements made in an Iranian newspaper, concerning the Jews. A rabidly jihadist editorial by one Shariatmadari declared that 'the Zionists' (i.e. the Jews) should be targeted not just in Israel, but *everywhere*...the clear implication was, indeed, that Muslims anywhere in the world should regard the Jews in their immediate vicinity as fair game for vengeful assault.
'Now, given what we know about Muslims, what do you think is likely to happen if some Mohammedan hothead decides to go kill / pillage/ rape some Chinese?
'Do you think he's going to prioritise the call to attack the (probably very well guarded and closely watched) Chinese Embassy in the country he happens to be in? Or is he more likely to go for softer targets? Muslims don't bother about fine distinctions.
'When they go after Jews, any Jew will do - they don't restrict their murderous attentions to only those Jews who have Israeli passports.
'Any visibly Chinese person - even someone whose family has been living peacefully in a western country for three or four generations - could become a target.
'The poster above who said he wouldn't like to be the owner of a Chinese restaurant near Muslim-infested Dearborn, Michigan, was on the right track.
'I wouldn't like to be a Chinese-American or Chinese-Australian student on some of our [Australian] university campuses, either, after an incendiary announcement like this has been made by a jihadist rabble-rouser.
'Funnily enough, not so long ago in Australia a Chinese-Australian shopkeeper and his wife and other family members were beaten to death in their home in a murder that has the police scratching their heads.
'Now, there *is* organised crime within the (more than a century old) Chinese community in Australia; my first guess was that this is a Triad murder or somesuch.
'And I would bet that the Chinese dictatorship has spies watching those who have migrated here recently or are studying or who engage in dissent and criticism of the regime 'back home' - so who knows, it might be an assassination of that kind.
'But - what if some Muslim had decided it was time to exact vengeance for events in western China?
'One of my brothers is married to a little lady from southern China; they are expecting their first baby. Perhaps I should warn them to keep a wary eye out for anything that looks like a Mohammedan.. since at least one jihadist website has declared jihad on the Chinese, not just inside mainland China, but...everywhere."