FU Youli
Terrorism is a malignant tumor in today’s world. The brutal
killing of innocent civilians is unacceptable and unforgivable for any
mankind and society . On March 15, the terrorist attacks in two
mosques in central Christchurch, New Zealand killed 50 people; On April
21, the eight suicide bombing attacks in Sri Lanka including its capital
city of Colombo left at least 253 people dead. The international
community has strongly condemned the terrorist attacks.
Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has not
seen any violent terrorist cases for 29 consecutive months, and the
local civilians have enjoyed peace for 29 months. However, fighting
against terrorism in Xinjiang is a long-term, arduous task. The “four
battles” between China and nationalist separatists, religious extremists
and terrorists are the major obstructions to “cooling down” the
“hotspots” and “overcoming” the “difficulties” on the Xinjiang issue.
First, the battle for sovereignty. Xinjiang has long been
an inseparable part of Chinese territory, and China has complete
sovereignty over and every right to govern Xinjiang, but things don’t
always occur as people wish. There are always some people in Xinjiang
and abroad hankering after “Pan-Turkism” and “Pan-Islamism”, having the
“dream of independence” to split Xinjiang from China and seeking to
establish the “East Turkistan” through “Jihad”. In the face of the
violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity, any central
government wouldn’t appease or connive such acts, but resolutely fight
them in accordance with the law.
Second, the battle for the will of the people. The battle
mainly targets the youth, which, in essence, vie for the future. The
extremist forces distort the religious doctrines, incite people “not to
obey anyone but Allah” and proclaim themselves as the spokesmen of
“Allah”. They, with weird thinking and acts, deny and reject all forms
of secular cultures.
Third, the battle for peace. Islam is neither an indigenous
belief of the Uygurs and other ethnic groups, nor the sole one of the
Uygur people, and in addition to that, Islam is not a religion that
advocates violence, hatred and terror. Buddhism was introduced into
Xinjiang a thousand years earlier than Islam, and held its place as a
major religion a thousand years earlier than Islam. Around the first
century BC Buddhism was introduced into Xinjiang and gradually became a
major religion. In the late ninth and early 10th century, Islam was
introduced into southern Xinjiang. Through the religious war and other
compulsory means, it replaced Buddhism as the major religion of Xinjiang
in the early 16th century.
Fourth, the battle for public opinion. The General Assembly
of the United Nations adopted The United Nations Global
Counter-Terrorism Strategy on September 8, 2006, and explicitly stated
that “any person who participates in the financing, planning,
preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in support of terrorist
acts is brought to justice … and that such terrorist acts are
established as serious criminal offences in domestic laws and
regulations.” However, for a long time, some countries and media have
worn “colored spectacles” and pursued “double standards”.
On March 1, 2014, eight knife-wielding Xinjiang terrorists
attacked passengers at the Kunming Railway Station, southwest China’s
Yunnan Province, leaving 31 dead and 141 injured. Some major
international media declined to use “terrorists”, “terrorism” and
“terrorist attack” to define the nature of the case, but collectively
“went blind” and “lost hearing”, and they intentionally or
unintentionally obscured the bloodiness in the attack and sympathized
the terrorists, using words in their news reports like “radicals”,
“simple weapons”, “Uygur-Han conflicts”, “stabbed and wounded the
people”.
The Western’s attention on Xinjiang has never weakened, and
one of the latest focuses is the “vocational education and training
centers”. To bring residents influenced by extremism back to normal
life, France announced to establish de-radicalization centers in 12
regions across the country; the United Kingdom published its
counter-terrorism strategy and emphasized early intervention; and the
United States also tried the way of rectification in communities. China
uses the experience of the Western countries in counter-terrorism and
establishes the vocational education and training centers with the goal
of educating and rehabilitating people guilty of minor crimes or
law-breaking and helping them seek reemployment. However, China’s acts
are defamed by some countries and “politically accused” of establishing
“concentration camp”, “infringing upon human rights”, “religious
persecution” and “illegal imprisoning Muslim”, and etc.
Of course, the work of the Xinjiang vocational education
and training centers is not perfect now. In terms of the content of
courses, more should be added to the current “studying standard spoken
and written Chinese language, studying the law, studying vocational
skills and de-radicalization”. They should offer the lecture on the
outstanding traditional culture of China and its Xinjiang every week.
Such lectures would not only help foster the national consciousness,
civic awareness and legal consciousness of the trainees, but also
enhance their cultural, mental and emotional identity. If everyone is
proud of the big family of the Chinese nation consciously and
voluntarily, the heresy of ethnic separation, extremist religion and
violent terrorism would not be able to find a foothold easily.
Although there is neither perfect humanity and society nor a
perfect system and political party, the mankind always holds eternal
thirst for and pursue of the truth, the goodness and the beauty.
Adhering to express one’s appeals in a peace rather than violent way and
coexist of different culture and religions are the bottom line of human
civilization. It should also be the consensus of all mankind.
