Muslim militants from China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region have gone to the Middle East for training and some may have crossed into Iraq to participate in the upsurge of violence there, China’s Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue Wu Sike (吳思科) said yesterday.
China has repeatedly expressed concern about the upsurge in violence in Iraq and the march of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which seized much of the north of the country as Baghdad’s forces collapsed.
The group has renamed itself the Islamic State and proclaimed the establishment of a caliphate on land it has captured in Syria and Iraq.
Wu, who recently returned from the region, told reporters that China is extremely worried about the role of extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.
“Several hot-spot issues in the Middle East have provided living space for terrorist groups. In particular, the crisis in Syria has turned this country into a training ground for extremists from many countries,” he said.
“These extremists come from Islamic countries, Europe, North America and China. After being immersed in extremist ideas, when they return home they will pose a severe challenge and security risk to those countries,” added Wu, who has 40 years of diplomatic experience in the Middle East and speaks Arabic.
Xinjiang, home to Muslim Uighurs who speak a Turkic language, has been beset by unrest for years blamed by Beijing on Islamist extremists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan.
While many experts outside of China doubt that these groups have anywhere near the abilities Beijing accuses them of, some Uighurs have made their way to Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years.
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