MSM ignores ISIS threat to occupy Xinjiang, harm China’s energy interests. (TOI).
On 4 July 2014, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadid effectively declared war on China by publishing a map of its aspirant caliphate that threatened to occupy China’s Xinjiang, and named China first in a list of 20 countries that had “seized Muslim rights.” In the video, Al-Baghdadi asked Chinese Muslims to plead allegiance to him and referenced Xinjiang numerous times
With Xinjiang comprising the furthest eastern flank of the planned caliphate, Chinese strategists will now have to worry about how ISIS’s pivot east will impact China’s energy security and its own march west across the new silk roads to the Greater Middle East.
Thus, China is currently debating sending troops to Iraq to fight ISIS and protect its interests.
Given China’s global stature and oil interests in Syria and Iraq, military analyst Zhao Chu argued in his blog that joining the coalition could not only give China valuable combat experience, but allow it look after its own interests as well as enhance its prestige by showing concern for international justice.
Likewise, Wang Chong, a researcher at Charhar Institute in Beijing, wrote on Weibo that if there was a need, ‘China could also send troops to help and provide training.”
Dingding Chen from Macau University also argued that China should send troops to fight ISIS. Observing bitter lessons learned from its $20 billion Libyan investment losses and evacuation of 36,000 Chinese nationals, Chen argued how a military presence in Iraq would provide solid security for Chinese investments, especially since Chinese stakes in Iraq are much bigger than in Libya.
In China’s state-owned mouthpiece China Daily, Jin Baisong from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s research institute also argued that the ISIS threat demands China to engage in Iraq.
However, rather than being seen as following a U.S.-led coalition, he suggested using an alternative banner such as the G20 framework and “take part in joint strikes against the IS if the consensus within G20 is to do so.”
He added China “could even consider sending troops to Iraq to prevent the Islamic militants from sabotaging Iraq’s normal economic order and to protect global economic interest.”
While CIA estimates ISIS has 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, China has 2.3 million active duty soldiers, with approximately 1 million reservists and some 15 million militia. With 1.3 billion people, China also has a potential manpower base of another 200 million males fit for military service available at any time.
Should ISIS continue to taunt the Chinese regarding territorial integrity in Xinjiang and threaten Chinese oil interests in Iraq, which is a core interest and red line for Xi Jinping, this King from the East has more than sufficient capabilities that could be brought to bear in a battle against ISIS. Hmmm.........talk about having a 'death wish'.Read the full story here.
HT:
Occupy Xinjiang - #ISIS Threat to #China the Media Ignores http://t.co/YD1TVBRlCh pic.twitter.com/zbUoaxar6r
— маяковский (@moscow_ghost) October 21, 2014
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