18 - 24 October 2001
Issue No.556
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 18 - 24 October 2001 Issue No.556 |
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Testing time
The fight against terror has put China's and India's traditionally warm relations with Arab countries to the test, writes Gamal Nkrumah
Whatever happened to Third World solidarity? The old certainties of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) togetherness is fading away, and is fast giving way to a self-seeking, albeit reckless, opportunism. Sifting through Western media reports this week, it would seem like the two greatest symbols of the developing world -- Communist China and democratic and secular India -- are becoming ferocious critics of political Islam, potential allies of the West in the fight against terror -- a thinly veiled euphemism for Islamic fundamentalism.
Religion may be window dressing, but in the aftermath of the attacks of 11 September on the symbols of the United States' economic clout and military might in New York and Washington it has become abundantly clear that anti-Muslim sentiments are not necessarily restricted to Western powers. The attacks have had unforeseen repercussions in the international arena. Certain countries are seen as taking advantage of the international climate to clamp down on their restive Muslim populations. Two key international players in particular stand out: China and India.
As far as the Arab and Muslim worlds are concerned, the resultant tensions are severely putting to the test both Beijing's and New Delhi's good faith. China's Muslim population numbers less than 20 million and is geographically concentrated in Ninjxia and the Western Province of Xingjiang where a motley of Muslim ethnic minorities such as the Uyigurs, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Tajiks uneasily share the mineral-rich province with an ethnic Han Chinese majority. India, with 170 million Muslims, has the second largest Muslim community in the world after Indonesia and has had a checkered history of communal rioting between Muslims and the majority Hindu population.
Considering the geopolitical pressure that is being brought to bear on both Beijing and New Delhi, the two countries have vital interests that cannot be discounted. However, the manner in which the Western media has treated the subject suggests that the two traditionally pro-Arab countries are exploiting the ugliest seams of jingoistic xenophobia in a war against terror that has both racial and religious overtones.
It is in this context that amid increasing Western reports of travel restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities on nationals of Arab and Muslim nations, there has been a discernible albeit arcane anti- Chinese backlash in certain Arab and Muslim countries. A retired Egyptian diplomat who recently served in China was refused an entry visa last week to visit China. He was assured, though, by the embassy officials that the situation would be reviewed next week.
Western media reports claimed that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued an official notice requiring the screening of Muslim and Arab travellers from some countries including Egypt, other Arab states, Iran and Israel. Oddly enough, the restrictions were said to have been imposed at the request of the Americans and Europeans. The BBC even reported that China Southern, a Guandong-based airline, has gone so far as to bar all Middle Eastern passengers from travelling to Europe and the US.
But the Chinese embassy in Cairo hotly denied the allegations. In Cairo, the Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liu Xiaoming told Al- Ahram Weekly that the reports were malicious allegations aimed at driving a wedge between the traditionally warm relations between China and Arab and Muslim countries.
Both China and India officially abhor the use of ethnic and religious hatred as a political weapon on both the domestic and international fronts. But Western reports of the Chinese authorities, alleged oppression of the Muslim minorities were widely circulated in the Arabic press over the past month, causing much anger and consternation in the Arab and Muslim worlds.
Ambassador Liu deplored what he described as the "serious Western distortion of the facts." Last month a number of furious Egyptian MPs expressed concerns about the "deplorable situation" of Muslims in China in Egypt's National Assembly, or parliament. One opposition Wafdist MP, Yassin Serageddin, went as far as urging the Egyptian government to sever diplomatic ties with Beijing. While the government played down the importance of the furore, the incident left a bitter after-taste among the public at large.
Liu dismissed as "malicious fabrications" allegations that China oppresses its Muslim minorities. "Again, I suspect that anti-China forces are at work." China has some 30,000 mosques and 40,000 Muslim clerics, or imams. Even though the majority Han people constitute 94 per cent of the entire Chinese population of nearly 1.3 billion, 10 of China's 56 ethnic nationalities are Muslim. The biggest of the Muslim nationalities are the Hui people who inhabit the Ninjxia autonomous region, one of China's 27 provinces and five autonomous regions. Liu emphasised that Muslims play a very important role in the economic and political life of the country.
Still, according to Ambassador Liu, "China has temporarily closed its border with Afghanistan following the recent US air strikes on Afghanistan." He added that Taxkorgan, where China borders Afghanistan, has been sealed off for all foreigners including journalists. However, he said that the mountain pass of Kunjirap, that links China and Pakistan, is still open to traffic.
Liu reiterated China's determination to deny Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden entry and conceded that Beijing was "beefing up security measures" in the Xinjiang Uyigur Autonomous Region.
The situation in South Asia is equally tense. On Monday, violent clashes erupted between India and Pakistan-backed Kashmiri separatists along the perilous Line of Control that divides Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. India described the hostilities as a "deliberate misinformation" campaign disseminated by "Pakistan which is not only promoting cross-border terrorism but misusing the visit of US Secretary of State Colin Powell to pervert information and cause confusion," read an official Indian government statement.
Indian Ambassador to Egypt Satnam Jit Singh was equally forceful. "All along, Pakistan was a part of the problem of terrorism. Pakistan has all along been Taliban's main benefactor and its only life-line. Most members of Al-Qa'ida have been trained in Pakistan. [While] cooperating with the US, it is essential that Pakistan should clean its own house," admonished Ambassador Singh.
But, the mainstream Indian press has been more circumspect as evident in several studied editorials. "Our society is not immune from social tensions which could arise out of India's active participation in what many see as America's war," warned the 16 October editorial of the Times of India. More explicitly, the Hindustan Times editorial derided the anti-Muslim fervour of members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Graphically citing the example of the deplorable behaviour of BJP's youth wing's conference in Agra last week, the Hindustan Times lamented that "large sections of the BJP rank and file have not abandoned their communal agenda." The BJP youth, the paper said "ran riot" and "raised communally sensitive [read anti-Mulsim] slogans."
Nevertheless, both official and independent media in India stood solidly behind the US-led strikes on Afghanistan. "Like Egypt, India has expressed its support for the US action. Like Egypt, India has been a major target of terrorism. Al-Qa'ida publicly adopted the Kashmir conflict as one of their causes. Most of the militant organisations operating in Kashmir are members of Al-Qa'ida," Sigh said. "Like Egypt, India is convinced that no religion teaches terrorism. No specific religion can be associated with terrorism. The current problem is not between Islam and other religions nor is it a clash of civilisations. It is a struggle between democracy, freedom and civil society on the one hand and those who are determined to destroy it on the other," Singh explained.
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