By Dingding Chen
Fighting ISIS has multiple benefits for China; Beijing should seize on this rare opportunity.
Now that the U.S. has decided to bomb ISIS and assembled an international coalition to do so, the key question for China is what should it do? Should China join the international coalition in one way or another? Although the Chinese government seemed to decline the U.S. offer to join the coalition, there are actually multiple reasons China should join. I’ve outlined five benefits that China can reap by joining the U.S. coalition against ISIS.
First and foremost, it is in China’s security interest to destroy ISIS, which is already a threat to China’s national security and could become a very serious threat if it gains more power and influence. ISIS has proven to be a brutal regime, willing to kill innocent people who do not share their radical religious views. After beheading two innocent American journalists, it is not inconceivable that one day ISIS could do the same to Chinese nationals. ISIS also has territorial ambitions toward China’s Xinjiang province and unconfirmed reports suggest that it might have recruited Chinese nationals already. If true, then this is a serious problem as it shows that domestic terrorism in China is now closely connected to international terrorism. In any case, it is not an exaggeration that ISIS already poses a serious threat to China.
Read the full story at The Diplomat