“We hope the international community can know the true terrorist nature of TIP which represents ETIM and their serious threat, and understand and support policies against terrorism.” Don’t count on it. The international media reports on jihad attacks in China with undisguised skepticism and sympathy for the attackers, and that is unlikely to change given the fact that its reportage is hardly better in regard to Israel and the U.S., which face obvious and undeniable jihad terror threats.
“Uighur leader’s support for knife attack proves terrorism: China,” from Reuters, March 19 (thanks to Kenneth):
BEIJING: A Uighur militant leader’s support of an attack this month in China in which 29 people were knifed to death is clear proof that the world should support China’s fight against terror, the foreign ministry said today.
Beijing blamed the stabbings at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming on extremists from China’s far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people.
Abdullah Mansour, leader of the rebel Turkestan Islamic Party, called the March 1 attack an “expensive offer” for China to reconsider its “cruel” policies in Xinjiang, the SITE monitoring service said yesterday, citing a video by the group.
“If the fighters of East Turkestan are now fighting with swords, knives, and mallets, our dear Allah will soon give us opportunities to fight the Chinese using automatic guns,” Mansour said. “Know that blood of those who are killing themselves is not being spilled for nothing, for their blood will bring tens of more to carry out jihad.”
China says it faces a serious threat from armed groups who seek to establish an independent state called East Turkestan, and has reacted with anger to suggestions its policies are to blame for stoking Uighur resentment and violence.
Mansour told Reuters this month that his fighters were gearing up for retribution against China.
The Turkestan Islamic Party, which China equates with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), keeps a low profile in Pakistan, where it is holed up in a lawless tribal belt.
Unlike the Taliban, it almost never posts videos promoting its activities or ideology. Its exact size is unknown and some experts dispute its ability to orchestrate attacks in China, or that it exists at all as a cohesive group.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters that Mansour’s video “exposes the true nature of their terrorist organisation” with their open support for the Kunming attack. “Terrorism is the public enemy of mankind. Cracking down on the ETIM terrorist group is an important part of the international community’s fight against terrorism,” Hong added. “We hope the international community can know the true terrorist nature of TIP which represents ETIM and their serious threat, and understand and support policies against terrorism.”
Exiles and rights groups say the real cause of the unrest is China’s heavy-handed policies including restrictions on Islam and the Uighur people’s culture and language. The government strongly denies such accusations but has begun to recognise the economic roots of the upheaval, such as lack of jobs in Uighur areas like rural southern Xinjiang, and has poured money in to rectify the problem.
Study after study has shown that poverty does not cause terrorism. The Chinese have poured money in to rectify the problem? They’ve poured money down the drain.