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Opinion | How China’s growing global reach raises the terrorist threat to its interests overseas
- Beijing’s increasing international commercial presence has led to jihadist organisations seeing China as a new colonial power
- The threats are likely to multiply and the question will be how China secures the safety of its citizens and interests
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With the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan complete, Beijing is warily eyeing the situation, concerned that instability after the Taliban’s takeover might lead to the growth of Islamist or Uygur insurgents. But it is next door, in Pakistan, where recent events have highlighted the non-state threats China faces overseas.
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On July 14, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle into a bus carrying Chinese engineers who were working on the Dasu dam project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in northwestern Pakistan. Thirteen people died, including nine Chinese nationals.
On July 28, a Chinese national was shot and wounded in a car in Karachi by a gunman on a motorcycle. Another suicide bombing on August 20, targeting a bus carrying engineers working on the Gwadar East Bay Expressway in southwestern Pakistan, killed two Pakistani children and injured one Chinese national.
The perpetrators of the attacks are varied – the latest suicide bombing in Gwadar was reportedly claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic Baloch separatist organisation. The shooting in Karachi was claimed by a different separatist group, the Baloch Liberation Front.
The July suicide bombing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was, according to Pakistani authorities, the work of the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). However, the TTP has denied responsibility.
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Nine Chinese nationals among 13 killed in Pakistan bus blast
Nine Chinese nationals among 13 killed in Pakistan bus blast
Whoever was responsible for the July 14 attack, there is a consistent thread running through these three incidents. Chinese engineers working overseas have been deliberately targeted, almost certainly owing to their nationality.
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