Countering International Terrorism: A Case for Sino- Indian Cooperation

05 Aug, 2000    ·   399

Bhartendu Kumar Singh argues the case for better Sino-Indian cooperation in the area of combating international terrorism

The issue of terrorism has emerged as a major area of future cooperation between India and China , the two neighbours who still do not see agree on many issues. For India , international terrorism, in particular state-sponsored terrorism, has been a serious cause of insecurity in the last two decades, first in Punjab , and now in Jammu and Kashmir : in case of China , ethnic nationalism is on the rise in its Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (hereafter Xinjiang) and has emerged as a major threat to its national unity. 

 

 

Both India and China face the same source of this threat: the Muslim insurgents bred in Pakistan and Afghanistan . While India is facing the heat, the spillover is reaching China . The Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, who have nothing in common with the ethnically dominant Hans in China , have been striving for independence. Of late, there have been increased incidents of bombings, clashes, and cross-border mobilization which is turning Xinjiang into another Tibet for the Chinese administration. Efforts for Sinicization of its Xinjiang province to merge the Uyghur Muslims within the Chinese national (read ‘Han’) identity have not succeeded; hence China is resorting to other methods to contain Muslim fundamentalism. 

 

 

The formation of the Shanghai-Five in association with Russia and the Central Asian republics Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan , in 1996, was one such attempt. At their Almaty Summit in 1998, China secured a vital pledge from its partners to reject “all manifestations of national separatism and religious extremism” and to ban on their territories “activities harmful to the state, sovereignty, security and public order of any of the five states”. For its part, China follows a strict ‘no support’ policy for terrorist groups indulging in subversive activities in its neighbouring countries. During the 1999 Kargil War, there were hints that China understood the war in terms of ‘state sponsored terrorism’. Without blaming Pakistan , China called on both India and Pakistan to ‘respect the Line of Control’. This was a hint to Pakistan to ask the Muslim fundamentalist forces to retreat from Indian territory . China refused to take sides with Pakistan , despite hectic lobbying by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Beijing . 

 

 

All these factors have persuaded India to seek China ’s support in its struggle against international terrorism. This was evident during President K.R. Narayanan’s visit to China in May 2000, when he voiced India ’s concerns regarding international terrorism and sought Chinese support for Indian diplomatic efforts to get the international community to accept a convention on international terrorism. China reciprocated by coming out forcefully against terrorism and called for greater international cooperation to combat the menace. The recent visit of the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson, Dr. Najma Heptullah, to China has strengthened the understanding between the two countries on this issue.

 

 

The Chinese eagerness to share India ’s concerns on international terrorism is not without reason. Despite its strategic proximity to Pakistan , China perceives it to be a state encouraging secessionist forces in Xinjiang. Also, the Taliban-led Afghanistan has emerged as a funding source for Muslim secessionists in the Central Asian region. In addition, the rise of narco-terrorism, again with Afghanistan as the source, has emerged as a serious concern in Chinese foreign policy.

 

 

All this opens a new area of cooperation between the two countries. Sino-Indian cooperation on terrorism will place a moral restraint on Pakistan , and boost the promotion of a Terrorism-Free Zone (TFZ) in and around the Pamir region. India must take the initiative in seeking membership of the Shanghai-Five, the most viable forum to foster cooperative security against terrorism in the region. Moreover, Sino-Indian cooperation against terrorism would serve as a security and confidence-building measure (CSBM), thereby promoting trust and cooperation between the two Asian giants.

 

 

 

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