Nondescript Nanyang becomes latest frontline in China’s war on terror

Provincial city in Henan a terminal for jihadis, say Chinese researchers.

(Photo: AFP)

Beijing:  Lying 2,000 kilometers from restive Xinjiang and many times further from Iraq and Syria, the nondescript provincial city of Nanyang has become a key jumping-off point for Islamic terrorists, say Chinese researchers.

With its unremarkable mix of malls and parks, Nanyang in Henan province is considered the ideal path to Jihad for those going from China to the Middle East due to good road and rail connections, according to the new study by the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.

“These links encourage the would-be jihadists to choose Nanyang as their interchange station before going to border provinces,” the research team said.

Located in the middle of Eastern China close to the big cities of Wuhan, Xian and Zhengzhou, Nanyang is a grueling two-day journey by bus or train from Xinjiang.

This small city of about one million people kept coming up after researchers interviewed dozens of academics and police officers following recent attacks in Western China, they added.

About 300 Chinese extremists have fought in Syria, mostly from the Uyghur separatist Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement, an unnamed Chinese security official told the state-run China Daily on Thursday.

“The information about each individual is still being checked, as the situation in Syria and Iraq is very complicated,” the official was quoted as saying.

China has in recent years devoted greater security resources to its long, porous border that separates vast Xinjiang from Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

At the end of April, authorities posted notices ordering residents to hand in passports in Ili prefecture on Xinjiang’s border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia.

Such measures have reportedly prompted greater numbers of Islamic extremists to move inland to escape Xinjiang. In response, authorities launched a new interior security operation just over a year ago extending as far northeast as Nanyang and the rest of Henan.

This operation has led to the arrest of more than 1,100 human traffickers and people trying to leave China illegally overland, mostly to Vietnam — a huge increase, according to state figures.

But Uyghur rights groups have accused Chinese authorities of deliberately confusing a minority of would-be terrorists with much larger numbers of families attempting to flee a spiral of separatist violence and state-sponsored repression in Xinjiang.

“In fact, many Uyghurs I have seen in Southeast Asia were there seeking transfer to a third, safe country for a long time before IS or the Syrian crisis,” said Kayum Masimov, director of the Uyghur Canadian Society.

“People flee because they cannot stand the brutality of the current regime and oppression they experience daily.”

Source: ucanews.com