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U.S. can learn from China's counter-terrorism wisdom

By Geng Xin (Global Times)

16:24, September 20, 2011

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

While marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, people reflected over the past 10 years and found that the strength of the United States and other developed countries has waned rapidly, and the peace and stability of the Middle East have been severely damaged. By contrast, China and other emerging countries have witnessed rapid development during the same period. Both China and the United States are victims of terrorism and have made great efforts to combat terrorism. Why are the results different for different countries? What should the United States learn from China in terms of counter-terrorism?

First, the United States should learn from China to grasp the themes of the times and stick to the established development path despite terror attacks. The 9/11 attacks stunned the world and motivated then-U.S. President George W. Bush to attach top priority to fighting terrorism, which dragged the nation into a series of prolonged wars.

A decade ago, the "Taiwan independence" forces were rampant amid growing social discontent, but the Chinese government was levelheaded enough to grasp the themes of the times and stick to the path of peaceful development while actively combating separatism and terrorism. China resolved the Taiwan Strait Crises and the riots in Tibet and Xinjiang flexibly and properly within the framework of peaceful development and created a unique anti-terrorism model to ensure peaceful development.

Second, the United States should also learn from China to roll with the punches and improve relations with other countries based on common interests and not to seek revenge. China has introduced many preferential policies and made great efforts to promote the economic development of certain regions in order to root out terrorism, while the United States has been combating terrorism by destroying the economic foundation of what it believes to be terrorist states and looting their resources, which have intensified social contradictions and caused greater humanitarian disasters. The U.S. counter-terrorism approach is exactly the opposite of the Chinese approach.

Second, China has clearly distinguished terrorism and extremism from religious activities and respects local residents and religious rights. Taking Tibet for an instance: The Chinese government invested 570 million yuan in Tibet's cultural heritage protection projects during the 11th Five-Year Plan period, which is about 200 million yuan more than it did during the 10th Five-Year Plan period. In contrast, the United States has blamed religious groups and religious followers for terrorism, invaded Iraq and caused the theft of 170,000 historical items in the National Museum of Iraq and hurt the religious feelings of local people.

The most fundamental reason behind the aforementioned differences between China and the United States in terms of the fight against terrorism lies in that China has prioritized public solidarity and clearly distinguished the minority of terrorists from local residents. However, the United States has prioritized retaliation and blamed the people in the Middle East for the evil actions of a handful of men.

Thanks to its respect for religion, China has clearly differentiated political conspiracies, such as terrorism and extremism, from ordinary religious belief and cultural differences, while the United States has obviously practiced discrimination and has discriminated against the Muslim region. Thus, the scope of China's definition of terrorism has realistically been diminished, while that of the U.S. definition of terrorism has been artificially expanded.

The world has undergone many major events over the past two decades, such as the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Asian financial storm, 9/11, the fight against terrorism and the international financial crisis. Of those, the events that were directly associated with China, such as the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, have not changed China's established policy. China has always remained calm and unswervingly held to the path of "peaceful development." Practice has proven that China is right.


Leave your comment6 comments

  1. Name

jthk at 2011-10-19202.126.216.*
Agreed, we cannot compare China and the USA on the issue because its state agent, the CIA had been financing religous/minority ethnic groups in the Middle East and Central Asia all in the name of security and national interest of the US. China has no obvious learned record of betraying allies of its own agent in contemporary history. China has to learn from the US, to respect religion and ethnicity. It is against humanity to manipulate religion and ethnicity by fuelling antagonism for narrow national interest. In this new era of globalization, in which, multilateralism and multiculturalism are typical features. There is not one single religion or ethnic group that can survive without collaborate with others. The surge of regionalism is a means to survive the turbulence of the global era. Equally, the US would not be able to surivive the global era if the national continues to securitize everything and see every religion and nation challenging its national security, the US would not progress any further in this new era.
WJL at 2011-10-07114.76.49.*
USA sponsored and trained Osama bin Laden. Their so called aid consists of over 95% obsolete military weapons. And they make sure that you pay through your nose for spares and so called upgrades. And the kickbacks to those officials approving the arms purchases. They have not changed their ways since using this method to get the Red Indian tribes decimate each other. Britain did the same thing in India setting the Khans against each other. Merchants of Death. Wake up and ignore their flattery, bribes and devious plots
A.Q.Raja at 2011-09-2592.96.164.*
I think "Geng Xin" write 100% correct that USA should learn from chines.World openion is also against USA polices because he is not acting like a super power and he should also learn from the history of before super powers.
David Gates at 2011-09-24199.94.8.*
The biggest threat to Chinese security and stability is from CIA sponsored terrorism against China. CIA has send thousands small arms to several anti-government organization inside China.
Stephen at 2011-09-22206.248.162.*
You cannot compare China and USA on this issue. China did not suffer a 911. If we did and it turned out to be a nation-sanctioned terrorism, I can 100% guarantee you that we would have gone to war just like the US. China and US face totally different situations.

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