By David Volodzko
China continues to lump terrorist groups and peaceful activists together — and to censor media coverage of both.
In a statement to French President François Hollande, President Xi Jinping strongly condemned the Paris attacks of November 13, both personally and as China’s president, offering his sympathy to the victims and their families and promising to work with the international community to fight terrorism and make the world safer for all.
Even before the Paris attacks, on November 9, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei told reporters that “it is imperative that we give full play to the coordinating role of the UN to pool together counter-terrorism actions by different parties. There should be no practice of double standards nor linking of terrorism with any specific ethnic groups or religions.”
On November 16, he further commented, “the Chinese side believes that joint efforts are needed to address both the symptoms and the root causes of terrorism. Double standards should be abandoned. All sides should give full play to the leading role of the UN and form a united front against terrorism.”
The motive behind these references to a “double standard” became clear when Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who also denounced double standards, referenced the East Turkestan Islamic Movement — a sentiment echoed by Xi himself.
“By denouncing double standards the Chinese government is asking the international community to accept wholesale their claims of terrorism,” remarked Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s regional director for East Asia. “But we know these claims are very problematic, they are very politicized and they go far beyond anti-state violence or violence against civilians to include peaceful dissent and so on.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat