Historical overview of China’s battle against terrorism

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME (UNODC), Nov 15th—  As the SGMUN 2020 conference is coming to an end, resolutions are being worked upon. 

The UNODC has focused a lot of its time on the fight against terrorism, as terrorism is an issue that affects the whole world and its population.

After an interview conducted with the delegate of China at the UNODC herself, Yannah Winkler, the following statement was given: “at the moment the committee is highly divided in between different approaches on how to create the best resolution, in the light of this separative movement, China [highlights] the utter importance of multilateral efforts and is very happy that two of the draft resolutions on the floor are actually representing the ambitions of The People’s Republic of China to create an emergency fund, particularly directed at countries like Yemen and Afghanistan, in order to support them sufficiently and efficiently in their fight against terrorism immediately and as fast as possible”. 

As the resolutions are still in the process of being accepted and amended, a historical overview of the issue should be addressed.

How China has dealt with terrorism in the past

The People’s Republic of China has battled terrorism for a long time and has acknowledged that terrorism poses a threat to the entirety of the global population, but also to the people of China themselves. 

To protect its population, the country of China has acted early and focused mostly on the Muslim ethnic Uighur population in the western region of Xinjiang and the Tibetan ethnicity which threatens national security the most.

All of the actions which China has taken have been supported by the US National Strategy for Combatting Terrorism.

But the people of China were still afraid, which is why more measures had to be accepted.

Over the past few years, China’s leaders have asked for increased international recognition and bilateral security cooperation, including law enforcement and military exercises. 

In terms of social media terrorist fighters, China has formalized internet controls and rules such as the cybersecurity law which had been accepted with controversy in 2017.

Although the law had been criticized for privacy invasion, the president of China, Xi Jinping reemphasized “the respect for cyber sovereignty for the protection of the people of China”.

The UN officials recognized China’s efforts which lead them to the consideration of a multilateral cyber-terrorism treaty in the following years.

Chinese leaders continued to stress that the country is prepared to work with ASEAN countries on a solution to the threat of cyberterrorism.

China’s efforts were later praised for their efficiency and have been supported by many officials around the world.

Although terrorism on a national scale still poses a serious threat to the country of China, the country’s leaders are favorably offering their help to fight terrorism on an international scale.