Lead Editorial
militants and their pre-eminent group the Province in the East. West Turkestan international community. In 2006 al
East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) consists of lands within many sovereign Qaeda’s Second-in-Command, Ayman al
might be alien to most readers, analysts states, whereas East Turkestan is Zawahiri made it clear that he considers
point out that China has long been exclusively on Chinese governed soil. The Xinjiang to be land historically belonging to
claiming that it is this organisation that reality is that ETIM and the other Xinjiang- the Muslim peoples and that, as such, it
poses the greatest threat to the Olympic based terror group, the East Turkestan should be returned to their rule. Such
Games. So much so that, in January this Liberation Organisation (ETLO), both proclamations can be of little comfort to
year, the Chinese authorities, claiming that appear to be receiving their funding from Chinese authorities hoping to showcase
ETIM had links with al Qaeda, killed two of Pakistani sources, further linking them to their state by means of the Olympics.
their number and arrested fifteen others, al Qaeda and the Taliban in the eyes of the China has long avoided the world
neutralising the operational effectiveness US State Department which, along with the media’s gaze, yet must now acknowledge
of the group, or so they claimed. governments of China, Kazakhstan and that regional nationalists may seize a
Some sceptics argue that if there was an Pakistan, has categorised ETIM as an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be
attempted bombing of CZ6901, it was official terrorist group. heard. Regardless as to the rights and
probably staged by the Chinese authorities Many Uighurs have been detained at wrongs of such protests, we are
to justify their treatment of the Uighur Guantanamo. However, it would appear witnessing these tactics in the streets of
people rather than as a real act of that there are two types of Uighur militants, Lhasa as Tibetan nationalists sense an
terrorism. They argue that the absence of those who subscribe to the al Qaeda opportunity. Copycat actions in Xinjiang
incident data (and even proof) and the fact philosophy and base themselves in or actual acts of terrorism emanating
that the aircraft landed in Lanzhou, off- Pakistan and those who are pro-Western from the region are to be expected and
loaded Turdi and continued on its way to and live in Albania, Kosovo and Turkey. May guarded against.
Beijing, rather than being treated as a 2006 saw the release of five Guantanamo Internationally we can ignore the issue at
crime scene, is evidence of the incident detainees who, being pro-Western, were our peril. If Xinjiang seems too far from
being far less than it was purported to be. extradited to Albania, given that the US home then, at the very least, we should
This author’s contacts in the region view government feared that the Chinese consider the China Southern experience as
this scepticism as yet another story for government would execute them if they a case study to sensitise our screeners to
conspiracy theorists. were returned to Xinjiang. the latest modus operandi of those with
Turkestan itself covers a swathe of land It is, of course, the al Qaeda strain that terrorist ideologies. It needs to be a global
from Turkey in the West to Xinjiang poses the greatest concern to the reassessment rather than just in Urumqi.
Aviationsecurityinternational April 2008
www.asi-mag.com 3
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44