A global war that only one side is fighting and that only one side even acknowledges is being waged.
“Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Chinese Uighurs fighting in Syria, warns Beijing expert,” by Ananth Krishnan, India Today, January 14, 2016:
There are “many hundreds or thousands” of Chinese Uighurs from the country’s western Xinjiang province involved with the Islamic State (IS) or other groups to wage jihad in Syria, according to a leading Chinese strategic expert who advises the government on its West Asia policy.
The Chinese jihadists, involved “not only with the IS but with other Syrian forces”, posed “a major threat” to China if they returned home, warned Li Shaoxian, a long-term West Asia expert and the Vice President of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a Beijing think-tank with ties to the Ministry of State Security.
“Whether there are Chinese citizens involved in IS, the answer is certainly yes,” he said in an interaction with journalists on Thursday.
“I don’t have the specific number but I think there are possibly many hundreds, or thousands, of them. As a researcher I have been following the situation closely. I believe there are quite many Chinese citizens fighting in Syria, not just with the IS but also other forces in Syria, where there are all kinds of groups who have people fighting who are from China.”
China has recently stepped up its diplomatic engagement with Syria, in recent weeks hosting both the Foreign Minister and top officials of the Syrian National Council representing opposition groups.
Li, who met with representatives from both the Syrian government and the council during their recent Beijing visits, said China was in a “unique” position to play a role in bringing about a political settlement. Referring to the divergent interests of both the United States and Russia, he said China was “the only major country without selfish interests involved” as Beijing “has no specific agenda.”
Li did not say if the issue of Chinese Uighurs – an ethnic Turkic Muslim minority in China’s western Xinjiang region – in Syria figured prominently during the recent talks, but described the matter as a serious concern for Beijing.
“I believe this will be a major source or threat because if these people come back to the country of origin they could constitute a considerable threat to the security of the country of origin.”
China says that Uighurs have been travelling to Turkey through Southeast Asia, and Beijing has accused Turkish missions in Southeast Asia of facilitating travel by issuing documents. In July, more than 100 Uighurs were repatriated from Thailand.
The move was criticised by rights groups who say the Uighurs were no terrorists but merely refugees fleeing persecution in China. While Beijing labelled them all as separatists who wanted to join jihad, rights groups have pointed out there were women and children among the group, which was detained on return to China.
Uighur exile groups say the majority of hundreds of travellers who are leaving China for Southeast Asia are doing so to escape what they describe as religious persecution from the authorities.
Li, however, pointed to a group of Uighurs who carried out a mass knife attack on a railway station in Kunming in south China in March 2014, stabbing 29 people to death. Chinese authorities said the 8 knife-wielding and apparently trained attackers had tried – and failed – to travel to Southeast Asia and then to West Asia join jihad, before carrying out the attack.
“If you remember the terror attack in Kunming train station, it is very clear these people wanted to travel to another destination via Southeast Asia,” he said. “According to material I have seen, I know that some IS elements are responsible in Southeast Asia to organise these people and bring them to Syria.”…

mortimer says
The tiny minority of extremists grows and grows and so do the noses of our Western elites who refuse to learn the jihad doctrine.
Joseph says
@ mortimer
Do you think that there is a possibility that they have learned the doctrine, learned it VERY well, like it and want to implement it here in the west?
You would have the best of both worlds, Stalinism, Maoism and Nazism. People under total control, living in fear with brother spying on brother, neighbor against neighbor and enemy killing enemy. All this under the banner of peace and “Big Brother loves you”.
Yes there is an evil wind that blows across the land.
UNCLE VLADDI says
The best of both worlds?
Communazism is only gangster extortion – totalitaryan conformity and group might makes rights nonsense – just like islam itself.
Libertine “Liberalism” IS crime; let’s just accurately define them all as CRIMERALS so we can be finally done with them!
The main difference between the national socialists (nazis) and international socialists (common communists) was the nationalism bit – the basic commies are globalists, whereas the nazis wanted a planet-sized Germany. Even “Fascism” itself was invented by the devoted Italian SOCIALIST, Benito Mussolini.
The only other real difference is that the nazis pretend they only ‘control’ the military-industrial complex, while the commies proclaim outright ownership of it; since ‘control’ really IS ownership, the alleged differences are only cosmetic and so ultimately moot; both communism and fascism (communazis) are totalitarian CONFORMITIES where only idolatrous group might makes right, and so no real live human individual has any.
Christianblood says
Mortimer
Dear Mortimer, you posted this on another thread yesterday: (…Christianblood, I hate your pseudonym…it’s arrogant…We are not discussing which religion is correct here…we’re discussing the errors in Islam…You are just another supremacist…)
I really did not get what you meant by posting that statement. Did you mean my screen name “Christianblood” is arrogant and supremacist? I would really appreciate and would consider it very generous if you could clarify this for me and it would also teach me something else. Have a great day bro!
j_not_a says
“Tiny minority of extremists” is a term that is hardly heard heard anymore, thankfully, the truth can be seen that there is no such thing as “radical islam” it is “ISLAM” that’s the problem.
Muzzlum birthrates are the only reason their pool of braindead zombie “soldiers” keeps expanding. These subhumans don’t care if their many offspring die for allah. Life to them is so cheap even their own childrens’, They will just keep having more and more
gravenimage says
j_not_a wrote:
“Tiny minority of extremists” is a term that is hardly heard heard anymore, thankfully, the truth can be seen that there is no such thing as “radical islam” it is “ISLAM” that’s the problem.
…………………………..
You’re right, j_not_a–you *don’t* hear this as much, probably because it had become too obviously ludicrous for even Muslim apologists to say with a straight face.
But while this has led a handful of people in the public eye to start questioning issues like Muslim immigration, for most mired in denial *it has made no difference at all*.
Even thought they now realize that a large percentage of Muslims support violent Jihad, and increasing numbers will wage it, they cannot bring themselves to seriously consider Islam a threat. Suicidal madness.
Good to see you posting again, j_not_a–apart from this, I hope you are well.
j_not_a says
Thanks gravenimage, hope you’re doing okay too! I know you’re one of the original posters from away back I’m talking at least 2006 or so.
A bit off topic – I recently got back in touch with my brother who I lost contact with for years, who is living in Birmingham, England which is the second largest city there and is well-known for it’s large muslim population. I would love to go see him after all this time but with Europe being the way it is now I am not so sure it would be a good idea. I’ll have to think this over.
gravenimage says
Hi, j_not_a. Yes, I was lucky enough to discover Jihad Watch back in 2006. I had been searching for such a resource ever since 9/11, when I really started to study Islam and Jihad. I had missed the site for the first few years after Robert Spencer founded it.
I’m so glad you located your brother! I don’t know what to tell you about traveling to Britain–things are definitely getting much worse there. It might be worth the risk to see your brother–and I know everyone here would be interested in your impressions on the ground there.
My English mother was born in Birmingham back when it was still a solidly British city–and one could not conceive of its being anything else.
My grandfather was there while being debriefed on his return from military service in India and Mesopotamia–that’s right, he fought in Iraq.
My mother quoted him as saying that the “Arabs”–really, Muslims–there were more savage than anything he’d faced fighting in Europe in WWI.
Later, he would serve as a police superintendent in the West Midlands–long before they were forced to turn a blind eye to Muslim barbarism there.
j_not_a says
That this significant and growing number of willing jihadists are from an Asian country further demonstrates that islam is not a “race” but made of up of all races black, asian and white.
Mo says
Well, that’s a new one! I’ve always wondered what the jihad situation is in places like China, Japan, Korea, etc. Places where you don’t hear of as much activity in this regard.
Good to see Islam seems to be an equal opportunity oppressor! No one seems to be left out.
gravenimage says
Actually, Mo, Jihad in western China has been covered quite extensively here at Jihad Watch. Here are just a couple of stories:
“300 Muslims from China have joined the Islamic State”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/12/300-muslims-from-china-have-joined-the-islamic-state
“China: Muslim leader says beer festival ‘open provocation to the Islamic faith’”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/06/china-muslim-leader-says-beer-festival-open-provocation-to-the-islamic-faith
There are many more.
Even in just the two stories above, you can see that Muslims in China are doing what they do everywhere else–supporting the Caliphate, receiving Jihad training which they then bring home to terrorize the local Infidels, and pushing “grievances” at Infidels daring to live their own lives free of Shari’ah norms.
gravenimage says
Luckily so far the Muslim population of Japan is very small–but it *is* growing. We will probably start seeing JIhad terror there in the future, although they are safer than most other parts of the world, enforcing low rates of immigration and being far from Dar-al-Islam.
Korea, though also having a small Muslim population, is already starting to see so-far foiled Jihad plots:
“South Korea: Five Muslims, ‘Islamic State sympathizers,’ arrested with bomb-making material”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/10/south-korea-five-muslims-islamic-state-sympathizers-arrested-with-bomb-making-material
SoCalMike says
China was right to expel foreign journalists who keep insisting that the Uighurs have nothing to do with Islamic Jihad.
They should throw out that sorry pathetic excuse of a journalist from NY Times, Andrew Jacobs, straight away.
He find it easier to contort his body into the shape of a human pretzel than to ever make the obvious connection.
Karen says
Says Obama: Folks! It’s not like this is World War 3. What’s the big deal?!?
Champ says
I can actually hear obama saying this, using that dismissive tone he’s famous for.
13pr108 says
The only worldview that makes any logical sense whatsoever is Sikhi. Dhan Baba Nanak.
Mary says
Parts of your ideology are easy to agree with. Of course there is only one God, how else can one explain creation? Men and women are different but equal, I can agree again.
However, we have differences when it comes to; who is God, how does one acquire salvation, who has ultimate power over all? (Including demons)
Who is God? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised Israel to his chosen people. Said he’d sign it, and he did. See “Jersalem-I will put my name there, amazing revelations” on YouTube. He is also the creator of all. See John 1:3. He is in three parts, as seen in Matthew 3:16-17. You are two parts, body and spirit. Since God is much more than we, why can’t he be three in one?
Getting saved involves accepting that Jesus died for your sins. See the story of the Ethiopian eunuch to see how that works. Acts 8:26 and onward. Or see the story of the man who repented and died on the cross beside Jesus. Luke 23:39 and onward.
Sometimes people wonder why Jesus had to die for our sins. Logical question. We are far from perfect, no matter how hard we try. God wants us back though, he made us, and takes pleasure in treating his children well. But, only bloodshed satisfies justified rage. So Jesus shed his blood for us. All we need do is accept that. Besides which, he had to die. It was prophecied in the Bible, and if a single word in that book proved to be false the entire thing would need to be discarded. See Psalm 22. In that psalm it seems that Jesus is referring to himself as a worm. So odd, right. We don’t have the Crimson grub in every part of the world, however they do in the Middle East. Please look at the life cycle of the Crimson grub, and then read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
As for power over demons. YES, victory in Christ can be had even today, even this hour. Anyone can be freed by calling on Jesus name. one example is found in Mark 5:1-20.
I am Christian. If there were no evidence for the tri-une God of the Bible I wouldn’t bother with religion at all. Pray for the truth, and I believe the living God will honour that.
All the best to you Dhan Baba Nanak
13pr108 says
25 000 Chinese soldiers stationed in Kashmir better leave soon. Days of chengiz kanjar khan are long gone and won’t ever be coming back. Aren’t chinese native to subsahran africa?
Mazo says
Aksai Chin, Ladakh, and Gilgit Baltistan are not Kashmir.
Kashmir is the Kashmir valley where Dardic Kashur speaking people live.
Ladakh, Gilgit Baltistan and Aksai Chin share no common history or people with the Kashmir valley.
Phil says
Mazo,
Am I understanding you correctly – that Ladakh has no common history with Kashmir? Has the Umma deleted the Kushan Empire from the history books already?
And, since we are mentioning Kashmir, we should consider the the Kashmiri Pandits who very definitely do have a link with the Kashmir…or rather, did before they were religiously and ethnically cleansed by their muslim neighbours. No-one ever seems to care about the Pandit refugees living in camps in Jammu in conditions so bad even the notoriously biased BBC was forced to take notice.
Mazo says
Ladakh is inhabited by Tibean Buddhists.
Kashmir is inhabitd by Dardic Kashur speaking Sunni Muslims and Hindus.
Different ethnicities, different religions.
gravenimage says
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Muslims from China waging jihad in Syria
…………………………….
This has been going on for some time–just like with Muslims from every other part of the world.
Look how this Reuters article gets the basic facts right, but completely misunderstands Muslim motivations:
“Returning Uighurs attacked Thai, Chinese police, China says”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-xinjiang-idUSKCN0Q90D020150804
It assumes the Muslims were frightened that there would be violence *against* them–but it was Muslims who attacked Infidels.
It also says, “Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Muslim Uighurs keen to escape unrest in China’s far western Xinjiang region have traveled clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey, home to a large Uighur diaspora.”–making it sound as though Uigers are only flocking to a Jihad war zone thousands of miles away because they want to “escape unrest”!
Only near the end of the article do they admit that, “Beijing blames Islamist militants for violent attacks in Xinjiang in the past three years that have killed hundreds. It says traffickers trick Uighurs to leave China and fight in Syria and Iraq.”
Even this, of course, is rather disingenuous–no one is “tricking” Uiger Muslims to fight for the Islamic State–they do it for the same reason that any other pious Muslims do–in order to strengthen the bloody Caliphate.
More:
A global war that only one side is fighting and that only one side even acknowledges is being waged.
…………………………….
So true.
And when these Jihadists return to China, it will be–just as with Muslims returning to Europe–to wage violent Jihad against the Infidels “at home”.
Asian Crusader says
Here is a helpful map that shows the spread of Turkic populations.
Turkic peoples themselves are keenly aware of these ethnic connections. Turkey’s president Erdogan is a particular afficionado of pan-Turkic initiatives.
Turkic peoples are thought to have spread from Central Asia (i.e. close to the Uighurs’ current homeland). Turkic populations probably only reached Turkey relatively late. This fact is a sore point to Turkish supremacists.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Carte_peuples_turcs.png
Mazo says
99% of terrorists from China belong to the Turkic Uyghur ethnicity from southern Xinjiang. Almost all the terrorists from China going to Syria are Uyghurs.
There is no terrorism among Muslim ethnicities like Hui, Salar, Dongxiang, or Bonan. Salars are a Turkic ethnicity but they are sinicized and therefore can’t be used as pawns by ugly western imperialists.
The majority of Muslims in China are Hui. If anyone has been to Ningxia or Gansu or Qinghai, you will find millions of devout and pious Hui, Dongxiang and Salar who are fanatically religious. Much more religious than any other ethnicity in China. There are foreign Muslims who visit and are amazed at the piety and observance of Hui even in coastal cities of eastern China, who are less religious than Hui in the interior regions like Ningxia.
Its not true at all that Hui are less religious because of sinicization, its the exact opposite. The more you are surrounded by people not of your religion, the more religious you get.
Its also easier to leave China for Hui, Salar, Bonan and Dongxiang than Uyghur. Hui, Salar, Dongxiang and Bonan can blend in and use Han style names. But you don’t see any of these ethnicities in foreign terrorist groups, while for Uyghurs, who are under surveillance for terrorism, can’t speak good Mandarin, and have obvious ethnic names, flock in the thousands to illegally leave China and join terrorists.
There are Hui living in Thailand and Myanmar. They are not involved in a single terrorist organization in those countries. Neither are Thai speaking Muslims.
I have yet to see a lying western media outlet give one sentence of coverage of ordinary Muslims in China. 99% of western reporters are propagandists wanting to incite Uyghurs against China.
We remember the American CIA backed, incubated and supported the Muslim Brotherhood in West German cities and universities in Aachen to use against leftists in the Arab world during the Cold War. The Muslim Brotherhood was on the CIA’s payroll to attack and overthrow governments like Nasser’s in Egypt.
The American CIA also supported and trained the right wing Turkish Islamist ultranationalist Grey Wolves organization during Operation Gladio, to massacre and murder Kurdish leftists and Turkish Alevi leftists. Countless leftist Kurds and Alevi civilians were slaughtered in repeated massascres in Turkey in the 70s 80s and 90s by CIA trained Grey Wolves.
The CIA also wanted to use the Grey Wolves Pan-Turkic Islamist ideology to incite Central Asian Turkic Muslims like Kazakhs and Uzbeks against the Soviet Union.
The American CIA gave napalm to the anti communist Iraqi government in the 1960s to slaughter Kurdish civilians and gave them death lists of leftist Iraqi civilians to murder.
The American CIA gave Suharto death lists of thousands of Indonesian civilians to torture and slaughter.
The government of China gives extensive affirmative action to ethnic minorities. Minorities like Uyghurs and Tibetans receive extra points on university entrance exam, reserved slots in universities and government emploment, economic aid, and exemption from one child policy. Uyghurs even have entire schools teaching in Uyghur and all minority languages are required to be used on official signs, documents, and store signs alongside Mandarin.
When we see western media tries to portray Uyghurs as victims when China gives more affirmative action to them than black people receive in America, we know what the western governments are plotting. I didn’t see any Native American store signs in US or documents written in Native American.
Especially Hasbara outfits like New York Times, Washington Post, and others which cover for israel while they whine about Uyghur “oppression”. The Chinese government is too generous allowing these zionist reporters to walk around China and try to incite Uyghurs.
Bezelel says
@Mazo, American Indians did not use a written language, meaning that signage would not work. Smoke signals maybe, depending on wind direction and speed.
pumbar says
“99% of western reporters are propagandists wanting to incite Uyghurs against China.”
Is it possible that you could cite some examples of this? I may be a bit daft but almost every mention I’ve seen on this issue has presented the Uyghurs as poor victims of Chinese oppression.
Ernie says
Mazo , what’s your problem with Zionism ?
Ernie says
Zionist reporters trying to incite Uighurs ? I want to see some proof of that Mazo, because I have the impression you’re spouting propaganda here . I’m interested in facts .
Mazo says
Guess who owns or is the editor of media like NYT and Washington Post? I’ll give you a hint about their background. Shlomo.
See the recent scandal over NYT’s reporting on Palestinians in Haifa.
Ernie says
Mazo , there is nothing wrong with Jewish people owning or editing papers . I really don’t see the problem . Jewish people have the same rights as other people . And so Jewish people have the same right to having their points of view and spread those views . The recent ‘scandal’ you mention here ; are you aiming at that recent article about Haifa’s ‘liberal’ culture ,and it’s Palestinian population ? And that interviewed Palestinians complained about ‘ biased reporting ‘ ? Look Mazo , the article wasn’t about the ‘occupation’ and so kept political statements out of the article . Palestinian papers daily publishing anti-Semitic ( racist ) content and inciting murderous attacks etc. , what do you say about that ? ………….. But I am biased , of course Mazo . However , you have the guts to answer part of my questions , and I appreciate that , I really do .
gravenimage says
The idea that it is “Zionist reporters” responsible for inciting pious Muslims to wage violent Jihad is utterly ludicrous.
One wonders why Mazo would even bother with such ham-fisted Taqiyya here–but he is a devout Muslim, and one supposes he is unable to help himself.
Mazo says
Taqiyya is the Shia practice of dissimulation to avoid persecution.
Metzitzah b’peh is a core practice of Judaism in the west.
gravenimage says
Mazo wrote:
Taqiyya is the Shia practice of dissimulation
……………………….
Lying under Sunni Islam takes many forms–Kitman, Tawriya, Taysir, Darura, and Maruna–all under the umbrella of Muda’rat.
Islam has many forms of sacralized lying, mostly used to lull the “filthy Infidel” into a false sense of security until Muslims can strike.
And “Metzitzah b’peh” does not mean–as Mazo here implies–Jews lying to Gentiles, but just a less common form of suctioning during circumcision in the Bris ceremony.
In other words, Mazo is now lying about lying–he’s reached quite a rarefied level of Islamic lying here!
Mazo says
I never said over here what metzitzah b’peh is about. How do the Rabbis perform the “suctioning”?
gravenimage says
One other point, as well–it is obvious that Mazo hates and despises Infidels–especially Jooooooooos–even when they are concerned about Muslims being possibly mistreated, as is the case here.
This is rather like Muslim “refugees” showing their gratitude for the country that gave them asylum by molesting and raping their hosts, as is happening throughout Europe.
God, I hate Islam.
Asian Crusader says
Interesting details.
BTW who are these “Uyghurs” you write about?
Mainland China’s official English-language publications refer to 56 officially recognized ethnic groups including “Uygurs” (no h). Of course, official publications also studiously avoid any reference to non-recognized minorities, such as Austronesians on Hainan.
In the West, the name “ئۇيغۇر” is usually rendered as “Uighur.”
Bezelel says
Hasn’t the memo been circulated in China? The one that clearly says that ISIS has nothing to do with islam.
Baucent says
After the Bangkok Bombing by Uyghurs the trail to Turkey and on to Syria was spotlighted. What we now know is that there has been an overland route from southern China through Laos into Cambodia and then in to Thailand using remote border crossings. The arrested Uyghurs admitted this to the Police. Once in Bangkok a gang of other Uyghurs and other muslims would produce false passports (Thailand is a major fake passport centre) and from then on they would fly through muslim countries to Turkey.
dumbledoresarmy says
I observe from his screechings about zionists and ‘hasbara outfits’ (though NO ONE who knows anything about anything would EVER describe the **New York Times** as pushing a pro-Israel line…ROFLMAO!!) that our Mohammedan propagandist Mazo is just as viciously antisemitic and anti-Israel as every other Mohammedan.
THAT tells me all I need to know about him.
Ugliness.
Kepha says
Triuie enough, DDA. Keep in mind that Mazo is probably a Hui. Some people I know who have visited Eastern Turkistan/Xinjiang have noted bad blood between Jui and Uighur. Further, Hui tend to identify with the Chinese state (or, if in a diaspora, as in Thailand and even the USA, may identify politically with the host country, if it offers decent treatment and naturalization). Under the Republic of China, the basic meme was that the only difference between Hui and Han (the Chinese majority) was religion; and that if a Han Buddhist became a Muslim, he became a Han as well; or if a Hui became a Christian, he could call himself a Han.
And to use some time-proven Leftist rhetoric, Xinjiang separatism is not only an issue of Islamic ferment, but also of anti-colonialist struggle.
Mazo says
I’m sure the local Buddhist Oirat Dzungars and Oirat Torghuts in Dzungaria would love to hear how their homeland suddenly became part of “East Turkistan”. They are still living there today.
They’ve been wondering how they suddenly became dispossesed and have no rights to it ever since “East Turkestan” magically expanded from the Tarim Basin to Dzungaria sometime around the 1940s. Westerners always referred to Xinjiang as “Turkestan AND Dzungaria” before the 1940s. AND does not mean “included in”.
Taranchi Uyghur slave laborers were brought to the area from the Tarim Basin to farm by the Qing. They are not natives. Dzungaria is historical steppe nomad land and was not used for farmland.
There are no remains of any Uyghur presence in Dzungaria. Anti-colonialist struggles do not include erasing boundaries and claiming other peoples land, and lying that your land is getting settled on. Nobody wants to move to the giant desert hole that is the Tarim Basin.
All of Mexico belongs to Mayans according to Uyghur style revisionist history. Aztecs? What is that? Never heard of them. And all of Alaska belongs to Aleuts. What are Inuit?
Fethullah Gulen in Pennsylvania is another CIA asset like the Muslim Brotherhood and Grey Wolves.
People of foreign descent will not give up their identity no matter what religion. There are descendants of Sayyid Shamsuddin and other Arab and Persian descendants living in Fujian and they are Daoist and pagan now, but they still call themselves Hui and are proud of their ancestry and now they are expanding their business connections with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Southern Fujian province is the only place where a large number of non-Muslim Hui live they changed their religion to paganism sometime during the Ming dynasty for unknown reasons.
Kephaq says
Well, what can China expect after they made the whole of Xinjiang–Oirats, Dzungars, Kazakh, Kyrygyz, Han, Hui, Xibe and whosoever an Autonomous Region for the Uighurs?
BTW, about Buddhist and Daoist Hui from Fujian, there are a number of descendants of such people in Taiwan (they’ve been there since Ming and Qing times) who are identifiable because they won’t offer pork to their ancestors.
All goes to show that borders and identities can be pretty fluid.
Mazo says
Most of the Jew Hui have become Muslim.
Asian Crusader says
In fact, it was Colin Powell who effectively pushed the Xinjiang Uighurs farther towards “Islamic ferment” by expressly abrogating America’s quarter-hearted support for a modicum of self-determination for Xinjiang natives, in return for Chinese promises of neutrality over the war in Afghanistan.
Powell’s initiative may or may not have been good geo-strategy for the U.S. or for China, but there can be little doubt that it further reinforced latent tendencies toward Wahhabism among Uighurs and other Muslim peoples in China.
Mazo says
Uyghurs under Hassan Mahsum entered Afghanistan and joined the Taliban in 1997 where they founded the “East Turkistan Islamic Party”, according to their own testimony, four years before the war in Afghanistan.
Taliban are not Wahhabi. They are Deobandi, and Deobandis suscribe to Sufi orders like Chisti.
Asian Crusader says
One is reminded of the exquisite charade staged by the Pentagon and State Department a few years back over language services for Uighur Muslims in Guantanamo.
During the war in Afghanistan, a number of ethnic Uighur Muslim jihadis had been apprehended in Afghanistan (a small strip of which abuts China),
DoD brass determinedly ignored the fact that these CHINESE CITIZENS had attended Chinese-language schools and naturally speak and read Chinese, the only full official language of China.
Always desperate to display “cultural sensitivity,” DoD scrambled to hire an Uighur announcer on Radio Free Asia as an interpreter. Not surprisingly, the Uighurs loved this and henceforth insisted they would only talk to the famous news announcer. The interpreter later helped with their resettlement to Bermuda which only accepted the Uighurs in return for massive U.S. bribes.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124943066488606293
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/08/05/a-profile-of-rushan-abbas-the-guantanamo-uighurs-interpreter/
Kepha says
While Putonghua may be the full official language of China, and virtually everyone in Mainland China and Taiwan with any education speaks it, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other languages used, and even minority groups with large numbers of disasffected people. In this China is similar to a lot of other countries. Kn Taiwan, I knew a guy with whom I spoke Mandarin, but who spoke Bunun when he went back to his parents and natal village. I knew countless people there with whom I spoke Mandarin who were very proud of their place in the great stream of Chinese (read: Hua Xia) culture and history, but who spoke Hokkien or Hakka with people closest two them (languages of the Sinitic family, mistakenly called “dialects”).
I read the profile of Rushan Abbas. My guess is that Uyghur in the USA are few and far between, and they get all mushy when they encounter each other–a lot like a lot of other ethnic groups in our country. Further, re the US government’s recruiting her, I saw a similar case back in the early 1990’s, when the US government was looking everywhere for people who could speak Khmer in order to help process displaced persons eligible for US resetttlement.
Peter says
One would have thought, given that Allah created the universe and wants his religion to reign supreme on Earth, and that Muhammad is the supreme Mensch to be emulated in all respects, that all races would have facial hair. Must drive these guys nuts that they cannot grow (full) beards, let alone apply some henna dye.
Mark says
Please view share and give a thumbs up to the following documentary. It really exposes Islam. https://youtu.be/t_Qpy0mXg8Y
UNCLE VLADDI says
Re: “A global war that only one side is fighting and that only one side even acknowledges is being waged.”
According to Maha Hamdan’s recent article, (here:)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/over-10000-opposition-members-fight-daesh-alongside-syrian-hamdan
… over 10,000 Opposition Members Fight Daesh Alongside Syrian Army (!)
😉
Matthieu Baudin says
“…There are ‘many hundreds or thousands’ of Chinese Uighurs from the country’s western Xinjiang province involved with the Islamic State (IS) or other groups to wage jihad in Syria…”
Meanwhile, in the east of the country and in the south, Christianity, in both formal and informal manifestations, is spreading quite quickly through a population that’s searching for greater spiritual and social connectedness. On a one to one level many Chinese are happy to talk about this significant change as the nation modernises and gradually opens up to the world.
Enragedsince1999 says
And our degenerate United States of America is actively aiding and abetting those Uighur jihadis, even those caught with al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Ignoring China’s protests, it sent a group of those jihadis to the tropical paradise of Palau, their bank accounts fat with our tax dollars. Bribed governments of Albania and other countries to provide residence for other Uighur jihadis. Putin was right to accuse the US of “playing a double game”, dividing jihadis into “bad terrorists” and “good terrorists”. The US just cannot give up its obsession with the idea of using Islamic jihadis against Russia and China. Incredibly, our US elites are still fondly calling aiding al-Qaida against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan “the greatest success of the CIA in its entire history”, and are dying to “replicate the success”. To just say that the lesson of 9/11 has been ignored would be a vast understatement. The SB massacre has just happened. Another one can happen any day. Or another 9/11. Or something even worse. But our US government and elites just keep pouring fuel into the fire of Global Jihad, hoping it will flare – up into China and Russia.
Ruslan Tokhchukov, EnragedSince1999.
steve duke says
As a longstanding Sinologist I wd advise giving anything Peking says immediate and total disbelief.
Uighurs belong to East Turkestan, a country invaded by the Chinese decades ago. The current regime thinks it can wipe out nationalist feeling by lebelling them “terrorists” so the West won’t complain when Peking cracks down on them. But there are some jihadis there,as there are in Wisconsin and Peoria.
Please don’t use the term “Sinkiang” its Chinese for “Province or colony”. I’d worry more about the jihadis in Pasadena,Poughkeepsie,Paris and Pakistan.