October 25, 2001

The United States and its allies are opposed to terrorism. The Chinese, however, are opposed to "all forms of terrorism." Or, as Chinese President Jiang Zemin put it in Beijing on returning from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Shanghai: "Terrorism should be cracked down upon, whenever and wherever it occurs, whoever organizes it, whoever is targeted and whatever forms it takes."

What is the difference between the two approaches? Quite a bit. After all, the Chinese are past masters at definitions and nomenclatures, which could be used as rhetorical weapons-and more. To understand why it is in the Chinese leadership's interests to broaden the definition and criteria regarding the global scourge, it is instructive to examine how Beijing is cracking down on antigovernment and secessionist groups, including the Falun Gong, under the omnibus banner of fighting terrorism.

FALUN GONG

A XX Party directive released earlier this month identified groups ranging from the Falun Gong spiritual movement to [group name omitted] in Xinjiang as terrorist organizations. Also fingered were violent "splittist" outfits among other ethnic minorities, as well as subversive and "unstable social elements" which are using weapons such as bombs against the authorities. A Chinese source close to the legal establishment said that, soon after the September 11 attacks on the United States, President Jiang and the party Politburo Standing Committee asked various departments to assess the danger of terrorism within China. Party and government units taking part in the appraisal included the Ministry of State Security, the police, army intelligence, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and state religious authorities. The party directive, which was based on the findings and recommendations of these departments, said that central and regional cadres should lose no time in taking the most resolute action against these terrorist groupings.

The source said also that a number of Politburo members wanted to take advantage of the global antiterrorist campaign to exterminate internal opposition and secessionist forces. So far, cadres and the state media have not yet publicly called the Falun Gong, known officially as an [Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted], a terrorist organization. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said at the time of the APEC meetings that a parcel containing a letter suspected to hold anthrax germs was mailed to a Chinese employee working in a China-based American company. The letter was, he said, inserted among the pages of a "propaganda book about the Falun Gong."

Sun did not explicitly tie the suspected terrorist act to the Falun Gong, saying only that the incident was "receiving the high attention of the Chinese government." Falun Gong spokesmen in Hong Kong and America, however, said that it was "ridiculous and ugly" for the Foreign Ministry to try to smear the group by implicitly linking it with anthrax attacks. Sun said earlier this week that exhaustive investigations found the letter to have contained no anthrax toxin.

Analysts say while the police have already used draconian methods against the Falun Gong, the latter's identification as a "terrorist" unit might help Beijing justify additional tactics including financial weapons that had been approved by the global community. Moreover, this terrorist label might help shield Beijing from condemnation by both liberal intellectuals at home and foreign governments.

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http://china.jamestown.org/pubs/view/cwe_001_008_004.htm