IS seduces China’s Muslim youth

The Islamic State continues to spread its tentacles and has now shifted its focus towards the world’s second largest economy China. Targeting the Muslim youth in China and asking them to awaken, a song purportedly released by the IS in Mandarin underlines the potential new focus country for this savage terror outfit.

The IS’s propaganda arm, Al Hayat media centre, appears to have put online a recording in Mandarin that asks its “Muslim brothers” to awaken. The four-minute song titled “I am Mujahid”, shows a man chanting: “To die fighting on the battlefield is my dream,” and “No force can stop our advance”.

“It shows the need for closer global cooperation against terrorism,” China’s Foreign Ministry said, with a senior official saying the fight against Islamist militancy had made progress.

Though China relies on the Middle East for oil supplies, it isn’t actively involved in diplomacy in the region. China’s economic relations with the Gulf nations, however, have expanded over the last few years.

Urging greater coordination to combat terrorism after attacks in Mali and Paris and the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey, China has said there is no military solution in Syria. The Chinese state media has also crticised the West and Russia for air strikes in Syria.

Reacting strongly to the video, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she could not comment on whether the recording was issued by Islamic State, but said it showed that “terrorism is the common enemy of mankind” and the need to stop extremists using the Internet. “In the face of terrorism, no country can stand on its own, and the international community should stand closer together and cooperate to jointly strike against all forms of terrorism,” Ms Hua said.

China’s Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping told a separate briefing that Beijing had already joined in anti-terrorism cooperation with Washington and Moscow, but did not divulge any details about it. China’s economic and business interests continue to grow abroad and it has increasingly been affected by the activities of militant groups. In the province of Xinjiang, reports warn that some Muslim Uighurs, an ethnic group have trained in battlegrounds in Syria and Iraq.

The killing of three Chinese executives in Mali when Islamist terrorists stormed a hotel about a month ago has generated anxieties among China’s security establishment about the country’s vulnerability to terrorism. Beijing vowed to take action when the IS killed a Chinese captive in November.

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