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A convoy of Islamic State solidiers in Raqqa, Syria. Photo: APcon

China must join global fight against terrorist threat

Your editorial, “China’s crucial role in war on terror” (November 29), is timely, as it has become a very sensitive point.

As a global power, China has made noteworthy contributions in the international arena, which have helped to maintain global peace. But these contributions often go unnoticed. It promotes peace through its involvement in development projects in a number of countries which help lift people out of poverty. In all these projects, China has respected other cultures.

This respect is in stark contrast to China’s experience when parts of the country were occupied by Western colonial powers, such as France and Britain. China saw little or no development or progress under these nations.

In the last decade, China has done a great deal to help with the economic development of a number of nations in Africa.

China is a peace-loving nation and it was not expected that it would face tragedies at the hands of terrorists. However, as your editorial pointed out last week “terrorism claimed the lives of four Chinese, in Mali and Syria”. This has forced Beijing to take a serious look at how it responds to such attacks.

Recent terrorist attacks, including the ones in Paris and the bomb that brought down a Russian plane over Egypt, have forced attention globally on terrorism. This is a threat that concerns all of us.

The central government has no choice but to examine the implications of any escalation of terrorism. Any attack which threatens the Chinese economy has to be seen as an attack on the global economy and the freedom and sovereignty of citizens around the world.

China has been actively involved [with the navies of other nations] in curbing piracy at sea. Its actions have significantly curtailed attacks by pirates on vessels. It does so in order to protect Chinese business interests abroad. The threat the world faces from terrorism is different. The terrorists’ agenda is to kill as many people as it can.

China must cooperate with other leading global powers and cut off all funding channels to terrorists and stop arms sales to these groups.

It is deeply worrying that these terrorists now have sophisticated weapons. We need more effective global policing and China’s involvement in such operations is not a choice, but a necessity.

Nations must reach a consensus on this issue and it has to be recognised that no country is immune from such attacks.

China will have to participate in this war against the crude ideologies that inspire these terrorists for many years and it should begin that participation now.

Dr Nitin Saksena, Sydney, Australia

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