By IPS Correspondents
BEIJING, Sep 18 2001 (IPS)

As the United States rallies a global coalition to respond to the worst-ever attack on American soil, China is facing a tough choice.

Should Beijing decide to join Washington in its new war on international terrorism, China risks annoying some of its long-time allies in Asia that are suspected of harbouring terrorists or being ‘rogue states’ themselves.

But if Chinese leaders shun U.S.-led effort to combat terrorism, China would find itself isolated from the international community at large.

The need to take sides in the anti-terror campaign emerged in the aftermath of Sep. 11 deadly attacks on America’s prime cities. Three civilian planes commandeered by hijackers slammed into the Pentagon in Washington and the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and estimates of the death toll now exceed 5,000.

In a reflection of Beijing’s awkward position, just a week after the terrorist attacks on the United States, Chinese state-controlled media dropped coverage of the American tragedy that has been preoccupying nations all over the world.

Instead, China’s leading newspaper, the ‘People’s Daily’, devoted lengthy coverage to the 70th anniversary of Japanese imperial army’s invasion of China and condemned all manner of military intervention.

The tone of the ‘People’s Daily’ coverage appeared to mirror China’s conflicting official thinking about the implications of a global anti-terrorism campaign — one directed by the United States that could result in military intervention in Afghanistan or other countries.

The Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has provided sanctuary to Osama bin Laden, who is suspected of being the mastermind behind a number of anti- U.S. terrorist attacks in recent years. Pakistan, China’s long-time ally in Asia, is a key supporter of the Taliban regime.

Any U.S. offensive on those countries is unlikely to invoke much support from Beijing.

Back in the early decades of communist rule, China provided logistic and moral support to a number of guerrilla radical movements in Asia.

Even in these days, U.S. intelligence agencies allege that Beijing is selling missile and nuclear technology to Iran, Iraq and Pakistan, as to other countries Washington suspects to be sponsors of terrorism.

While Beijing is anxious to be seen as backing common efforts of the international establishment, the Chinese leadership loathes being identified with the foreign policy of the United States — which it often refers as one of “hegemonism”.

China is a strong supporter of the concept of national sovereignty and is vehemently opposed to foreign intervention in its own or other countries’ internal affairs.

The perception that the terrorist attacks were horrid but understandable because of aggressive U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, is held by many ordinary Chinese people. Some American and foreign experts also trace their roots to U.S. policy in that region over past decades.

Qiao Liang, military strategist at the Chinese air force headquarters, believes the attacks against the United States were an understandable response to American hegemony.

“Many innocent people became victims of American policy after the Cold War,” he argued.

Yet whatever its qualms about a military response to the attacks, this time China clearly wants to find some common ground with the international community.

In a telephone conversation with U.S. President George W Bush on the night after the attacks, President Jiang Zemin was quick to offer China’s help in the war on terrorism. He spoke of the terrorism as “a challenge to all people who cherish peace”.

He told Bush: “China is ready to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with the United States and the international community in combatting all manner of terrorist violence,” the state news agency Xinhua reported.

Although the report gave no details of what role China could play in a U.S.-led war against terrorism, a senior Chinese official said this weekend that Beijing was ready to provide not only moral but practical support.

“It depends on what requests we get from the United States,” Zhao Qizheng, the director of the State Council Information Office and a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, told media in Berlin.

He said Beijing’s support might come in the form of action by the Shanghai Six, a regional security organisation formed by China and Russia and four Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Although the Shanghai Six’s main purpose is to help country members fight militant Islamic organisations, the security alliance was forged as a political counterweight to the United States.

But obviously, this time Beijing has decided that its opposition to terrorism outweighs its opposition to American policies.

Two days after the attacks on America, the Shanghai Six signed a declaration in Almaty, capital of Kazakhstan, saying “international terrorism has turned into a serious threat to humanity”.

“The Shanghai Six have taken a very clear position to fight terrorism together,” said Zhao.

“These challenges come from many different directions, but no matter where they come from, the Shanghai Six countries have signed a declaration to combat terrorism, and that is a sign that they all feel threatened,” he added.

As much as Beijing fears foreign intervention in its own troubled regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, it dreads even more the impact of Islamic fundamentalists on the separatist movement in its northwestern region of Xinjiang.

There in the past, Muslim radicals from the Uighur ethnic minority have carried out bomb attacks and murdered government officials.

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