Why is Isis silent on China’s Uygur Muslims, when US alleges genocide?
- The terror group has adopted ‘systematic silence’ on the Uygur issue and Chinese influence in general, a recent commentary points out
- Terrorism experts say this could be due to a few reasons, including its focus on ending the American military presence in the Middle East and South Asia
The Islamic State has adopted a near total, systematic silence on not just the Uygur issue, but also Chinese influence more broadly, according to a recent commentary in foreign policy journal War on the Rocks.
Experts are split on what’s behind this silence. Some suggest it is a strategic move, as Isis prioritises ending the American military presence in the Middle East and South Asia. Others suggest Beijing’s repressive state apparatus and surveillance methods in the Xinjiang region have made it too difficult for militants to recruit from China.
Yet others warn the silence may simply be a temporary blip, caused perhaps by the collapse of the terror group’s self-declared caliphate across swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq following its military defeat by a US-led coalition at Baghuz in March 2019.
They warn that the group, while weakened, remains a potent force in command of an estimated 10,000 fighters and insurgent cells and affiliated groups throughout the region. In other words, it might just be reorganising, rebuilding and biding its time.
“The integrity of its ideology remains,” says counterterrorism analyst Ahmad El-Muhammady of the International Islamic University Malaysia. “Isis may be organisationally destroyed, but we can’t kill ideology.”
ENEMY No. 1: AMERICA