By Shannon Tiezzi
As DC hosts a summit on countering violent extremism, China blasts the U.S. role in creating havens for terrorists.
As the Obama administration hosts a summit on “countering violent extremism,” China is taking the opportunity to turn a critical eye on the U.S. “war on terror” thus far. With the White House looking to bolster international unity in the fight against terrorism, Chinese media made it clear that Beijing does not completely buy into Washington’s strategy.
According to the White House, the summit aims “to bring together local, federal, and international leaders … to discuss concrete steps the United States and its partners can take to develop community-oriented approaches to counter hateful extremist ideologies that radicalize, recruit or incite to violence.” Aside from more standard counterterrorism, the White House envisions this summit as way to “address the root causes of extremism through community engagement.”
This would seem to be an area where China and the U.S. could cooperate. Beijing is seeking greater counterterrorism cooperation with many of its neighbors, and also seeks to deal with the problem at the root by targeting those who spread extremist propaganda (a fact made clear by China’s new draft terrorism law). As Obama put it in a recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, “We also have to confront the violent extremists — the propagandists, recruiters and enablers — who may not directly engage in terrorist acts themselves, but who radicalize, recruit and incite others to do so.” That seems to be perfectly in line with China’s own goals.
Read the full story at The Diplomat