China raises the slogan of “fighting terrorism”

Islam Mohamed

China has long adopted a policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States and has focused all its efforts on the development of its economic aspects; however, the recent period has seen a gradual Chinese deviation from this policy.

Recently, China has used its veto in the Security Council repeatedly to oppose resolutions on Syrian affairs, in addition to establishing a military base outside its borders in Djibouti.

China also has declared the formation of Special Forces to combat terrorism; to protect Beijing’s interests beyond its borders.

China also announced in last August, the inauguration of a training camp for Afghan forces; to strengths their ability to “fight terrorism”.

The official newspaper “China Morning Post” reported that: The Chinese army is likely to send hundreds of elements , or perhaps a whole battalion to the camp once completed.

For her part, Dr. Nadia Helmi, a Chinese expert and political science professor at Beni Suef University, confirmed that the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions had an important impact on China’s foreign relations.

She also noted that the Chinese do not recognize the term “revolutions”, but call it “unrest”, the economic interests of China affected these events negatively.

During her speech at a seminar on the cultural dimension of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its role on fighting terrorism, Helmi said that China had adopted the theory of “free passenger”, meaning that it was extending its economic interests around the world without incurring political or security costs.

The United States is responsible for global security. Beijing did not play any political or strategic role, so the US presence in the Middle East was in its interest, but the events of 2011 made clear to China its neglect of this aspect.

China has suddenly found itself immersed in the Middle East conflicts when 40,000 Chinese workers in Libya, whose country was unable to quickly evacuate them from the battlefield.

When the Syrian conflict developed, 5,000 from the Uighur nation were in the conflict, they joined the armed organizations fighting against the government of Damascus, so Beijing was interested in the presence in Syria.

Helmi pointed out that the above developments were one of the reasons why China announced a global initiative to ensure its interests around the world and included a security dimension.

It developed the level of security coordination with Arab governments in order to defeat armed terrorist movements.

Its interests require a security presence in the Middle East, and in January 2016 it announced a “Cooperation Document with the Arab World, especially in the Strategic and Security Areas”.

In the same year, a security cooperation agreement was signed with the Egyptian government to coordinate efforts in the field of “combating Terrorism”.

The United States, whose forces are stationed in the Middle East to protect its interests and ensure the continued flow of oil, did nothing to protect China’s interests when threatened by the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions, making China’s politicians change their strategy.

China enacted the country’s first anti-terrorism law on December 27, 2016 as the first law of its kind. The law gave the national counter-terrorism body the responsibility to identify terrorist activities and to coordinate its actions at the state level.

The so-called “The National Intelligence Center” to coordinate internal and external efforts on intelligence and counterterrorism information, indicating the large space for the attention of the leaders of Beijing.