Counterterrorism: prospects for U.S.-Chinese cooperation.

AuthorSempa, Francis P.
PositionReport

Counterterrorism: Prospects for U.S.-Chinese Cooperation.

By Paul J. Smith, Associate Professor, Naval War College

http://www.uscc.gov/hearings/2009hearings/written_testimonies/09_03_04_wrts/09_03_04_smith_statement.php

In recent testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Naval War College Associate Professor Paul J. Smith stated that the "tectonic power transition" in the international system, characterized by relative U.S. decline and China's gradual ascendancy, created the potential for U.S.-Chinese cooperation against the threat of global terrorism.

China's impressive economic growth and its need for energy resources to help fuel and sustain that growth have resulted in an increased Chinese presence in all parts of the globe. This, in turn, has made China and its citizens more vulnerable to international terrorists. Smith reviewed the series of terrorist attacks against Chinese citizens in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, and elsewhere between 2004 and 2008. He also pointed out that China imports 47% of its oil from the Middle East and Southwest Asia, thereby exposing it to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups that are based in that region. China also has its own domestic terrorist threat in the form of millions of radicalized Uighur Sunni Muslims.

Smith believes that it would be logical for China to assume more of the "terrorism burden" associated with its status...

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