Commentary
Testing China's resolve in global anti-terrorist game plan

By Tom Plate

The gathering American-led storm against the shadowy army of networks behind the Sept. 11 massacre is starting to take shape.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin has promised cooperation and support in the war against terrorism. What this translates into will become clearer when Jiang meets President Bush in Shanghai later this month. Advertiser library photo • April 5, 2001

About terrorism and terrorists in Asia, the government of the People's Republic of China knows a great deal. In such proximity to it for years — especially on its borders facing Central Asia — the Chinese have nurtured an astute sense of neighborhood street smarts that could give the West an invaluable feel for what it is about to get into. But the looming question is: Will China, despite all the anti-terror rhetoric, sit this one out?

At a minimum, it isn't likely to get in the way. Taking its cue from President Jiang Zemin's assurances to President Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and other Western leaders that China is on the team, Chinese officials will not publicly quarrel with the U.S. anti-terrorism line. Moreover, at the coming summit (Oct. 20-21) of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization in Shanghai, the Chinese propose to raise forcefully the daunting issue of what APEC, as a team, can do to address the predicted negative economic impacts of the September tragedy.

"The attacks have sent huge ripples around the global community," said Foreign Ministry official Zhu Bangzao.

In truth, Beijing is at least as worried about the world economy as it is about Osama bin Laden & Co.

In addition, Beijing chafes that the anti-terrorist campaign may become perceived regionally as an anti-Islamic crusade, especially if every diligent effort is not made to adhere to international law, limit collateral damage and minimize deaths to innocents. That's hardly unreasonable, but Beijing could make that point even more compelling by not stinting on its own contribution to what is perhaps the most crucial element of the anti-terror campaign: political intelligence. Agrees a former Clinton Cabinet member well known to the Chinese elite: "You bet the Chinese can contribute considerable intelligence. Remember, they have enormous intellectual knowledge of the region and of terrorism. They have influence with governments there. They have many intelligence officials on the ground right now who know a lot and who could do a lot."

Is it inconceivable that Chinese agents might selectively work hand in hand — or laptop to laptop — with their Western counterparts in efforts to locate terrorist cells in Asia? Or at least to open their files on terror groups under their surveillance? Given what's at stake, it's hard to believe that this Jiang government, with so many eggs in the pro-West globalization basket, will contribute only economic aid and let it go at that.

To be sure, Beijing may propose doing more not out of the goodness of its heart but out of cold calculation. The Chinese could try to parlay their anti-terror stance into political cover for additionally repressive action inside their own borders, including Tibet, other western provinces and perhaps even on Taiwan. Recycling some of the Bush administration's high-minded anti-terrorism rhetoric, they might make moral arguments for their own internal repression by defining it as necessary self-defensive action against terrorism. Note that, already, Moscow is painting its vicious repression in Chechnya as nothing more cruel than a brand of terrorist control.

There's sure to be more to any Chinese decision to get involved than will meet the eye, but, whatever their reason for helping, the coalition should accept what they offer. Calling terrorism "a serious threat to world peace and stability," Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan explicitly promised help for the United States in rescue operations. China could and should do more than that. In fact, Jiang himself should sign off on a detailed plan of cooperation during his private session with Bush in Shanghai later this month.

Alas, China's frequent foreign-policy mantra is that nations must avoid becoming involved in the internal affairs of other states. But states also have the inherent right of self-defense. That's the principle America is invoking now as it goes after those who have interfered so brutally in its own internal affairs by murdering thousands of its citizens in cold blood. China should not only respect America's anger but also honor it. The coming months of crisis will test the leadership in the great capital of China every bit as well as in the great capital of America.

Tom Plate, a columnist with The Honolulu Advertiser and the South China Morning Post, is a professor at UCLA. He also has a spot on the Web.