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Chinese Terrorists’ Rise in Syria Raises Concerns at Home

Chinese Terrorists’ Rise in Syria Raises Concerns at Home
folder_openAsia-Pacific... access_time6 years ago
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Many don't speak Arabic and their role in Syria is little known to the outside world, but the Chinese fighters of the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria are organized, battled-hardened and have been instrumental in ground offensives against the Syrian army in the country's northern regions.

Chinese Terrorists’ Rise in Syria Raises Concerns at Home

Thousands of Chinese extremists have come to Syria since the country's war began in March 2011 to fight against the Syrian army and its allies. Some have joined the al-Qaeda's branch in the country previously known as Nusra Front. Others paid allegiance to Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the Takfiri ‘ISIS/ISIL' group] and a smaller number joined factions such as the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham.

But the majority of Chinese terrorists are with the Turkistan ‘Islamic' Party in Syria, whose vast majority are Chinese Muslims, particularly those from the Turkic-speaking Uighur majority native to Xinjiang in China. Their growing role in Syria resulted in increased cooperation between Syrian and Chinese intelligence agencies who fear those same extremists could one day return home and cause trouble there.

The Turkistan Islamic Party is the other name for the East Turkistan Islamic Movement that considers China's Xinjiang to be East Turkistan.

Like most terrorist groups in Syria, their aim is to remove al-Assad's secular government from power and replace it with strict ‘Islamic' rule. Their participation in the war, which has left nearly 400,000 people dead, comes at a time when the Chinese government is one of al-Assad's strongest international backers.

Along with Russia, China used its veto power at the UN Security Council on several occasions to prevent the imposition of international sanctions against its Arab ally.
Beijing blamed violence back at home and against Chinese targets around the world on extremist militants with foreign connections seeking an independent state in Xinjiang.

The government said some of them are fleeing the country to join the fight, although critics say the Uighurs are discriminated against and economically marginalized in their homeland and are merely seeking to escape repressive rule by the majority Han Chinese.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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