Fighting Islamist Terrorism, the Chinese Way

It’s Ramadan and nations around the world are awash in Islamist terrorism. The West is besieged with Muslim refugees and is making a valiant attempt to integrate the new population. As of now, it has had limited success and a great deal of crime, added to the terrorist incidents..

In authoritarian China things work differently. China has its own Muslim population, called Uighurs. The group has launched several terrorist attacks, among them the rampage through the Kunming train station in 2014. There, knife wielding terrorists murdered 33 people and injured many more.

The Chinese authorities did not merely declare war on terrorism. They decided to repress the religious practices of all Muslims.

The Wall Street Journal editorializes about the Chinese approach to terrorism:

It’s Ramadan, and Beijing is again restricting the peaceful practice of Islam in its western territory of Xinjiang. This year government employees are required to ensure that friends and family aren’t fasting or otherwise observing the Muslim holy month. Under the “Together in Five Things” campaign, cadres are even living in the homes of the Uighur minority, according to the World Uyghur Congress.

The government has suppressed Ramadan. It is not interested winning hearts and minds. The Journal continues:

In February Mr. Chen described security as “grim” and urged the People’s Armed Police to “bury the corpses of terrorists and terror gangs in the vast sea of the people’s war.” So much for winning hearts and minds.

It did not stop with Ramadan. Other identifying characteristics have also been banned, presumably because they denote separation:

New “Regulations on Anti-Extremism” that came into effect in April outlawed veils or “abnormal” beards. Parents can’t give children “overly religious” names such as Muhammad or encourage them to follow the Muslim faith. 

And also:

Other measures include antiterror drills, shows of force by the security services and the installation of satellite tracking devices in cars. Mandatory activities for students are deliberately scheduled on Fridays to prevent them from attending mosque services, and rewards are offered for reporting men who wear a beard or women who wear a veil.

Control over the Uighur population goes far beyond religion. The use of their native language is discouraged in schools, and economic opportunities are limited. The best jobs go to Han Chinese settlers, who are given incentives to move to Xinjiang. Peaceful dissent is not tolerated. 

The Journal does not approve. It sees the Chinese approach as repressive—a reasonable description—and suggests that it is likely to provoke a violent uprising:

Yet China’s fears of a Uighur terrorist movement may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. As Uighurs flee the country and some become radicalized, Islamic State issued a video in February in which a Uighur fighter threatened China with “rivers of blood.” The government’s anti-Islamic policies are also causing anger among Muslim nations such as Indonesia.

Chinese officials continue to respond to every outbreak of violence in Xinjiang with greater repression. By restricting even the peaceful practice of Islam by historically moderate Uighurs, Beijing is traveling a dangerous path that threatens domestic stability.

From the Chinese perspective Western tolerance has produced far more deadly terrorist attacks than has Chinese repression. 

Western thinkers have bought the oppression/rebellion narrative and have used it to avoid any repressive measures. It says that if you push down on a gas that is in a confined space the gas will eventually explode its container. It's a persuasive narrative, but it is probably not true.

Back in the day, when Tiananmen Square was filled with students demanding democracy, the Chinese authorities cracked down viciously—invading the encampment with tanks and murdering dozens of the demonstrators. At the time, serious Western thinkers like Nicholas Kristof and Jonathan Mirsky declared that the Chinese people would soon rise up against oppression and overthrow their authoritarian masters. We are still waiting.

They were wrong. They misread the situation. Where we saw Woodstock they saw another Cultural Revolution. Where we saw enlightened students who wanted merely to vote, they saw a new generation of Red Guards. The population of China preferred prosperity to famine. They trusted their leaders more than they trusted students revolutionaries.

In any event, the repression did what it was supposed to do. Now, the Chinese government is forcing Muslims to conform to Chinese ways, even at the expense of peaceful religious practices. No country in the West could do such a thing, but if terrorism continues to spread in the tolerant West, how much longer will it be before Westerners decide that the Chinese way is better than the liberal democratic approach?