Comment on Militant attacks abroad a diplomatic quandary for China's Xi

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle: World
Tue, 11/24/2015 - 11:06pm

Militant attacks abroad a diplomatic quandary for China's Xi

The dilemma underscores the tension between China's desire to be seen as a leading global power and its desire to maintain its own independent foreign policy while shunning the U.S.-led Western liberal democratic political agenda. More likely, analysts say, he'll stick to China's long-established neutrality while possibly taking limited behind-the-scenes measures to help in the global campaign against Islamic extremists. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Monday that China was working to "increase our emergency reaction and early warning capabilities" to confront threats against overseas personnel and assets. A top Xinjiang official, Xi Hairong, this week warned that the continuing influence of "pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism thoughts" placed Xinjiang in "an active period for violent and terrorist activities and an acute period in the battle against separatists." China is also hyper-vigilant about the introduction of Western concepts of democracy and civil rights into its own society and lashes out at all criticisms of the one-party state's human rights abuses. [...] attitudes dictate that, despite pressure on the government to respond to recent incidents, Beijing is unlikely to do so "in a meaningful way," said Phillip Potter, a foreign policy and international relations expert at the University of Virginia who studies Chinese security policy. The Communist Party's heavy-handed control of the media and public discourse means it can tone down coverage of attacks on Chinese and limit domestic pressure to act, Potter said.

 

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