Expert Voices

Zumrat Ablikim HR Associate Researcher at Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences

An Islamic scholar once said， “The worst enemy of Islam is any ignorant Muslim. Because of ignorance and unacceptable behavior， the image of Islam is smeared and ruined， and the world misunderstands what Islam really is.” People of every ethnic group， Uygur in particular， should realize that religious extremists and terrorists are enemies of all humans. They are more than enemies of the Uygur. They have often kidnapped honest and kind Uygurs. Ambiguous feelings and indifference towards religious extremism has placed us in an increasingly bad situation. We should fight terrorists hard with determination. People from all ethnic groups should stand shoulderto-shoulder to stop religious extremism from growing. For Uygur people， it’s important to clearly learn about the nature of religious extremism.

Sharif President of Algerian El Khabar newspaper

The terrorist events in Urumqi of Xinjiang shocked me and I support anti-terrorism actions taken by the Chinese government. All peace-loving and righteous countries and people around the world will stand by the Chinese government and Chinese people. We strongly oppose any form of anti-human violence or terrorism. With its booming economy， China ensures its people opportunities for better lives. To maintain such development， China should not tolerate any terrorist activities. China will resort to every possible means to eliminate terrorists groups and punish violent criminals.

Zhang Ning Deputy Director of Central Asia Research Office， Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

The frequent terrorist attacks， violence and extremism in Xinjiang have nothing to do with ethnic issues. At first look， the terrorism takes the form of gang-related criminal activities， but is actually rooted in the expansion of Islamic extremist ideology. Islamic fundamentalism is spreading not only in Xinjiang but elsewhere in the world. Religious extremist propaganda is hard to ban. Saudi Arabia， home to two of Islam’s most sacred sites， has even been attacked many times by extremists.

David Gosset Founder of Euro-China Forum

Western countries have many misunderstanding and prejudices about Xinjiang， which primarily center around problems related to minorities. They simplistically think the local government does not protect Uygur culture. This is not the truth. Let me cite a simple example： renovation of the old town of Kashgar. Some Westerners think that the renovation destroyed local culture， whereas most experts agree that the renovation brought better protection. The local sanitation needed major improvement， and the renovation preserved the original beauty. Experts including those in Islamic architecture believe that the project helped preserve local culture. People who criticized the project largely never saw it with their own eyes and relied on hearsay.

Ma Pinyan Deputy Director of Research Center for Ethnic Groups and Religions under Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences Terrorism in Xinjiang has a unique feature： it is separatist violence carried out in the name of religion. Instigators of every major riot， turmoil and disturbance in Xinjiang took advantage of religion. The slogan that terrorists used this time was still a so-called ‘holy war.’ Terrorists claim religion but make little impact on the religious lives of local people and little beneficial influence on the normal development of the religion in Xinjiang. Instead， terrorists damage Islam， as well as social stability and ethnic unity. They spread violence and terror in the name of Islam， which results in the misunderstanding that Islam is a religion that promotes violence. Such a misunderstanding harms Islam tremendously.

Giuseppe Cucchi Former Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies of Military Research Center of Italy

When instability grows in Central Asia， instable elements will spread out of the area. Agence France Presse （AFP） once reported that after a NATO air-strike in Afghanistan， 13 of the targets killed were Uygurs from Xinjiang. This proved that some of China’s Uygurs had worked with Afghanistan’s Taliban. Islamic believers have two senses of belonging： one to their country， and the other to Islamic believers around the world. Over years past， whenever wars involved Islamic countries， for example， when former Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan， young Muslims from various parts of the world would call for‘Jihad.’ After the war ended and survivors returned to their home countries， they might become new sources of instability.