Al Qaeda VS China

At the following article by the Diplomat, titled “Al-Qaeda Declares War on China, Too”, October 2014, you can read that Al Qaeda declared war on China too, because China oppress the Uyghurs at her eastern province of Xinjiang. A bit more than 50% of Xinjiang’s population are of Muslims of Turkic origin.  Al Qaeda, among others, calls Xinjiang “East Turkestan”, and wants to see Xinjiang independent.

Map 1

I have mentioned in the past the clash between Turkey and China over the issue of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs. The sunni islamist organization “East Turkestan Islamic Movement” operates in Xinjiang. The Diplomat article mentions that Al Qaeda and ISIS are united on the issue of Xinjiang. I must say that the 45 billion dollar Chinese-Pakistan economic corridor, which is promoted by China, will transfer the Iranian gas and oil to China, something that deeply hurts Arab economic interests. Moreover the Altai natural gas pipeline, which was agreed by the Russians and the Chinese, and which will carry Russian natural gas to China, will run through Xinjiang.

As I said the population of Xinjiang is of Turkic origin to a large extent, as it is the case with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgizstan, and Turkey wants to use her cultural similarities with the region, in order to outweight the Russian military influence, and the Chinese economic influence. Therefore the alliance between Al Qaeda, which is mainly influenced by Arabs, and ISIS, which is mainly influenced by Turkey, should not surprise anyone.

See also Turkey VS China

https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/07/21/turkey-vs-china/

and “Turkey, Russia and China in Central Asia”

https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/turkey-russia-and-china-in-central-asia/

For the article see

“Al-Qaeda Declares War on China, Too”, του Οκτωβρίου 2014

http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/al-qaeda-declares-war-on-china-too/