Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght- In recent months, media have reported that Chinese were seen among ISIS terrorists. The news about a group of Chinese extremist having joined the ISIS terrorist group was previously broadcasted in various media. Chinese senior officials have confirmed that a number of Chinese Muslim from Uyghur together with ISIS forces have been fighting against Syrian and Iraq armies. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the ISIS, had already stated that members of ISIS from dozens of countries, including China, have come to the region to fight for establishing the so-called Islamic State. Although it is speculated that China is not well aware of such individuals, the Malaysian Minister of the Interior has confirmed that more than 300 Chinese crossed Malaysian border to join the ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In addition, it should be noted that over the past year, some regional players such as the US and Turkey have moved hundreds of Chinese militants to the northeast of Syria. Most of them were Uyghur Sunnis from the people’s republic of China. Presence of the Chinese among the ISIS terrorists is well-documented as Chinese citizens have been arrested in the Iraqi army operations against the ISIS. In fact, over the last months, most of the Chinese extremists using social networks, invited the Uyghur youths to join the ‘Marriage jihad’ (Jihad el-Nikah) or travel to Iraq through Indonesia and join the ISIS terrorist group.
It is clear that the presence of Chinese citizens among ISIS terrorists is potentially giving serious cause for concern of Chinese authorities. In recent years, China has not been immune from attacks and activities of extremist groups. As results of extremist activities in China more than 400 were killed and hundreds were wounded. The infiltration of ISIS terrorist group into Iraq and Syria and its continuous recruiting in Afghanistan has worried China over the its potential infiltration into largest Asian country. It should be noted that in recent years, ‘Xinjiang’ autonomous region in Western China in addition to Central Asia have always been a haven for active secessionist groups especially in East Turkestan; meanwhile there have been clashes in Xinjiang autonomous region (Uyghur or East Turkestan) since many years ago. This region, which is one-sixth of China's total area in Western China, with a population of over 20 million people, borders eight countries from Russia in north to Pakistan in southwest. The majority of non-Chinese residents of Xinjiang are Uyghurs and Sunni Muslims, providinf fertile ground for development of the ISIS ideology in the region. The Uyghurs speak in Turkic language (their alphabet is Persian and 35 percent of their vocabulary is also Persian) and have close relations with Muslims in the region. There is a threat that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, formerly collaborating with the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, extends its authority through cooperation and coordination with other extremist movements such as ISIS, or a lot of its forces join the ISIS. Apart from this, it should be noted that the Chinese joining ISIS can pose serious threats on China in near future. Even now, the Chinese government feels more insecure, as ISIS is active in Afghanistan, in a geographical proximity to Xinjiang.