Since 1962,
India
and
China
have not been the best of friends. Chinese military support to
Pakistan
has placed a greater distance between them. However, the importance of breaking the ice is realised by them. This was reflected in Li Peng’s visit to
India
in January 2001. He is next only to President Jiang Zemin and is ranked above Premier Zhu Rongji in the political hierarchy.
Among other reasons, the visit could have been prompted by the rapid spread of the Taliban syndrome and political instability in the Xinjiang province, where Uighur Muslims are seeking independence. Their activities are threatening
China
and
Central Asia
too. Hence, in April 2000,
Kazakhstan
,
Kyrgyztan, Uzbekistan
and
Turkmenistan
signed an agreement for jointly tackling terrorism, political and religious extremism, multinational organised crime, and other security threats.
China
has strong reasons for feeling threatened by Islamic fundamentalism. The Muslim population in
China
, in 1990, was around 17 million. Among these, the Hui Muslims hail from
Central Asia
and
Persian Gulf
, who intermarried with the Han Chinese. The Turkic Muslims of China’s western province consist of Uighurs, Tajiks, Kazak and Kyrgyz groups. This second category populates Xinjiang or ‘the new frontier’.
Xinjiang, which is rich in natural resources like, coal, petroleum and oil, was formally annexed by
China
in 1884. It has a long history of struggles for independence. While the Huis assimilated and adapted the parent Han culture of
China
, their Turkic counterparts are unable to do so. They have maintained their distinct cultural and religious identity for decades. Unlike
India
, the Chinese political regime does not entertain cultural and political pluralism. As a result, the Turkic Muslim minority of Xinjiang has often felt isolated.
The disintegration of the
Soviet Union
and the emergence of Muslim-dominated states in
Central Asia
in the early 1990s has given a strong fillip to the aspirations for independence of Muslims in Xinjiang. The stiff resistance offered by the Mujahideen to Soviet advances in
Afghanistan
paved the way for their ambitions. The establishment of rabid Taliban rule in
Afghanistan
and its efforts to carve out a pan-Islamic diaspora as part of the ‘jihad’ agenda has made
China
wary of Islamic fundamentalism within its territory. These apprehensions have been strengthened by the political difficulties in
Tajikistan
.
Chinese fears of an Islamic backlash have been confirmed by skirmishes between national security forces and Uighur separatists. The Chinese Government suspects infiltration by Islamic militants as a major factor behind this unrest, which is a belief, shared by
India
with regard to separatist violence in
Kashmir
. The Taliban, has thus emerged as a common concern for
India
and
China
.
It is ironical that the mutual border, a ticklish issue between
India
and
China
, has been treated with disdain by the terrorists. There are reports of Uighurs from Xinjiang carrying out terrorist operations in
Kashmir
. Some of the captured militants actually admitted to being trained by Pan-Islamic Jihadis in
Pakistan
’s
Baluchistan
province, and crossing over to
India
from POK, along with Lashkar-e-Toiba infiltrators. Both communist
China
and democratic
India
are perceived as threats to the growth of Islam.
India
has tried to persuade
China
of the need to combat Islamic terrorism jointly. Xinjiang shares borders with
Pakistan
’s
North West
Frontier
Province
and
Afghanistan
making
China
vulnerable to secessionist designs.
Li Peng’s visit saw a further step in carrying forward the Sino-Indian initiative for tackling terrorism. During
Kargil, China
had strongly rebuffed
Pakistan
. The Chinese White Paper issued last year does not list
India
as a security threat. Despite being at cross-purposes on issues like dumping Chinese imports in
India
, the border problem and nuclear cooperation with
Pakistan
, the Taliban syndrome is bridging the gap between the two nations. It remains to be seen whether this threat can override
China
's bias towards
Pakistan
.
By carrying dogmatism to the extreme, the Taliban has shocked the entire world. On the flip side, however, it is uniting old foes. Acts of demolishing Buddha statues and Buddhist murals in
Afghanistan
has stunned the world. Being the treasurer of one of the most ancient heritages of the world,
China
too, can only condemn these heinous actions. And inch closer to
India
on one more common cause.
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