How China’s growing global reach raises the terrorist threat to its interests overseas

Beijing’s increasing international commercial presence has led to jihadist organisations seeing China as a new colonial power
The threats are likely to multiply and the question will be how China secures the safety of its citizens and interests

Christian Le Miere

Published: 3:30am, 2 Sep, 2021

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With the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan complete, Beijing is warily eyeing the situation, concerned that instability after the Taliban’s takeover might lead to the growth of Islamist or Uygur insurgents. But it is next door, in Pakistan, where recent events have highlighted the non-state threats China faces overseas.

On July 14, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle into a bus carrying Chinese engineers who were working on the Dasu dam project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in northwestern Pakistan. Thirteen people died, including nine Chinese nationals.

On July 28, a Chinese national was shot and wounded in a car in Karachi by a gunman on a motorcycle. Another suicide bombing on August 20, targeting a bus carrying engineers working on the Gwadar East Bay Expressway in southwestern Pakistan, killed two Pakistani children and injured one Chinese national.

The perpetrators of the attacks are varied – the latest suicide bombing in Gwadar was reportedly claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic Baloch separatist organisation. The shooting in Karachi was claimed by a different separatist group, the Baloch Liberation Front.

The July suicide bombing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was, according to Pakistani authorities, the work of the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). However, the TTP has denied responsibility.

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Whoever was responsible for the July 14 attack, there is a consistent thread running through these three incidents. Chinese engineers working overseas have been deliberately targeted, almost certainly owing to their nationality.

Two of the attacks targeted labourers working on projects associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and in particular the US$65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Beijing’s growing presence in Pakistan, particularly through the CPEC, has led to China being increasingly seen as a viable and desirable target for militants.

Baloch separatists in particular have bristled at China’s massive investment projects in Balochistan, where Beijing is aiming to create an energy and trade corridor that could bypass the maritime chokepoint of the Strait of Malacca.

But it is not just the parochial interests of the Balochis that have been disturbed by China’s overseas investments. Beijing’s growing international commercial presence has led to jihadist organisations seeing China as a new colonial power.

03:34

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Combined with intense criticism of its policies towards the Uygurs in Xinjiang, this has led to more explicit threats from Islamist non-state armed groups. Islamic State claimed in a 2017 video that it would shed Chinese “blood like rivers and avenge the oppressed”.

The recent attacks in Pakistan are the latest in a series of violent events directed towards China in the country. For example, in April, the TTP targeted a hotel in Quetta, Balochistan, which was set to host the Chinese ambassador that day.

In 2018, the BLA launched an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi. The three attackers and four Pakistanis were killed, with no Chinese nationals injured. In 2017, two Chinese nationals were abducted in Balochistan and later executed by Islamic State.

Pakistan has been a particular hotspot for anti-Chinese terrorism, but it is far from the only location where Chinese interests have been attacked. Given the transnational nature of global jihadist movements, it is unsurprising that militant groups inspire and motivate attacks elsewhere.

01:29

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In August 2016, the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber, killing the driver and injuring three Kyrgyz embassy personnel. The attack was attributed to Uygur groups fighting alongside the Nusra Front in Syria.

The previous year, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on the hotel housing the Chinese embassy in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing one Chinese national and injuring three others.

These attacks demonstrate how the threats to China are now geographically diverse and ideologically diffuse. Recent violence has come from Baloch separatists, Uygur separatists and international jihadist groups spanning Central Asia, South Asia and East Africa.

As China’s overseas interests grow, these threats are only likely to multiply. The question will then become how China will react to secure the safety of its citizens and its interests.

It seems probable that, as the attacks continue, Beijing will try to exert greater pressure on local governments to deliver uncompromising counterterrorism campaigns. But, if this fails to stem the rising tempo of attacks, Beijing might take a more hands-on approach to delivering security of its overseas interests.

Christian Le Miere is a foreign policy adviser and founder of Arcipel, a strategic consultancy

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