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  • On this episode of China Uncensored

  • ISIS is now going after China.

  • And now the Chinese Communist Party versus ISIS.

  • No, not that ISIS.

  • Though now I have a cool idea for season 9.

  • I'm talking about the real ISIS,

  • the one so evil that it forced the writers of Archer

  • to quietly drop the name from the show.

  • This ISIS, also known as ISIL.

  • One of the world's most brutal terrorist organizations.

  • ISIS has killed tens of thousands of innocent people.

  • Well ISIS is now targeting the Chinese Communist Party,

  • which...is also one of the world's most brutal organizations,

  • and has killed tens of millions of innocent people.

  • So who do you root for?

  • It's like Alien vs. Predator.

  • Whoever wins, humanity loses.

  • Back in March, ISIS released a video threatening the CCP.

  • ISIS said it would tocome to [China]

  • to clarify to you with the tongues of our weapons,

  • to shed blood like rivers and avenging the oppressed.”

  • The oppressed?

  • In China?

  • Sorry, you'll have to be more specific

  • about which group of oppressed people in China

  • you're talking about.

  • But you get the gist:

  • It's a threat.

  • But you know,

  • there's something I don't get.

  • It's not like China is sending its troops

  • into the Middle East to fight ISIS.

  • Actually, the United States has been complaining

  • that China isn't doing its part

  • in the fight against global terrorism.

  • And in some ways,

  • it seems the Chinese regime is doing the opposite.

  • Like when they defended their close ally Pakistan,

  • saying Pakistan is totally not a harbor for terrorists.

  • And that came just months after ISIS

  • killed two Chinese nationals in Pakistan.

  • And the Chinese regime

  • just to prove it really, really didn't care

  • blamed the Chinese victims.

  • ISIS killed those Chinese citizens

  • because they were illegally preaching Christianity

  • in Pakistan.

  • Although, to be fair,

  • that could have been their fate

  • for illegally preaching Christianity in China, too.

  • The Chinese regime has basically stated

  • it won't join the global fight against ISIS.

  • This is not to say the CCP

  • is buddy-buddies with ISIS.

  • It's mainly that their strategy

  • for dealing with the complexities of terrorism

  • in the Middle East is basically:

  • Meh, you guys sort it out.

  • I mean, I told you in the last segment

  • that other BRICS countries got China

  • to sign a joint statement

  • toexpress concernabout ISIS

  • and that's considered a big win,

  • but still doesn't require China to do anything.

  • As Business Insider puts it,

  • While relying on the region for oil supplies,

  • China has tended to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy

  • to the other permanent members

  • of the UN Security Council.”

  • Take Iraq for example.

  • The US initially led the war effort to liberate Iraq

  • from its oil reserves.

  • But now it's China buying most of Iraq's oil.

  • The Chinese regime also recently announced

  • an almost half-a-billion dollar construction deal in Iraq

  • ...to rebuild after the defeat of ISIS.

  • I mean, not that the Chinese regime

  • is specifically planning for the defeat of ISIS.

  • It's more that the Chinese regime

  • wants to include Iraq in its

  • One Belt One Road initiative.

  • And by and large,

  • this has been the Chinese regime's

  • international strategy in the Middle East

  • since the Cold War:

  • an 'offend no one'

  • and 'attach no strings' strategy.”

  • Offend no one and attach no strings.

  • Sounds more like my friend Chad's dating strategy.

  • And much like Chad's love life,

  • the Middle East is still a hot mess.

  • So how did ISIS get so offended

  • by the Chinese Communist Party?

  • I mean they seem so reasonable.

  • Well, it's because the Chinese regime

  • is fighting a war against terrorists...

  • And by terrorists,

  • they mean the Uyghur people in Western China,

  • in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

  • In China, anautonomous region

  • is like a province.

  • Autonomousmeansself-governed”—

  • in the same way that thePeople's Republic of China

  • means it's runs by the people.

  • Because in the case of Xinjiang,

  • the CCP has been ridiculously heavy-handed

  • in how things are run.

  • About 10 million of Xinjiang's 22 million residents

  • are the Turkic-speaking Uyghur people.

  • Who are these Uyghur people?

  • In a lot of ways,

  • they're just like you and me.

  • They enjoy riding horses

  • through golden hills on a warm September day.

  • Eating spicy noodles at the local street market.

  • Sitting through boring college PowerPoint presentations.

  • And loading up on carbs

  • when they know they really, really shouldn't

  • but it's my cheat day so don't judge me.

  • Of course, there's one thing that distinguishes

  • the Uyghur people from most other Chinese.

  • A lot of them are Muslim

  • mostly secular Muslims,

  • although of course there are lots of

  • religious Muslims there, too.

  • The Chinese regime has effectively labeled

  • all Uyghurs as a threat.

  • But it's not like they've singled them out

  • for their religion or anything.

  • Remember, over the years

  • the Chinese regime has persecuted

  • all sort of groups:

  • Tibetans, intellectuals,

  • wealthy people, poor people,

  • Christians, lawyers, activists,

  • and even those people who just sit there quietly

  • in yellow shirts.

  • It's equal opportunity oppression.

  • I'm sorry, Uyghurs.

  • You're just not that special.

  • But according to this policy paper,

  • over the years,

  • the Chinese government gradually turned

  • Uyghur national identity and Islamic practices

  • into national security threats.”

  • You see, after 9/11,

  • the Chinese regime realized that they had

  • a golden opportunity to finally get international support

  • for one of their insane persecutions

  • because these victims were Muslim.

  • So any locals who were angry at the CCP for,

  • really any number of reasons,

  • were suddenly labeled asterrorists.”

  • And you don't want to stand up for terrorists, do you?

  • And the CCP thinks that nothing is effective at stopping terrorism

  • like going after people's traditions.

  • So the CCP banned burqas and abnormal beards.

  • Plus they banned traditional Muslim clothing,

  • the name Muhammad,

  • and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan

  • for students and civil servants.

  • The CCP has also put

  • extreme surveillance measures in place

  • in the entire Xinjiang region

  • like requiring a GPS in every car,

  • and forcing residents to install

  • spyware on their mobile phones

  • that tracks everywhere they go,

  • every website they visit,

  • and every text message they send.

  • Yeah, that's not going to make anyone mad.

  • Of course, to keep them in line,

  • the CCP has added a heavy military presence in Xinjiang.

  • Incidentally, the Communist Party chief

  • in charge of Xinjiang is this guy.

  • Previously, he was in charge of Tibet for five years.

  • He did excellent work in Tibet,

  • making sure no one there had freedom, either.

  • So after years of the CCP

  • treating its Muslim population horribly,

  • guess what?

  • It actually ended up driving

  • some of them to terrorism.

  • Over the years,

  • there have have been several acts of terror

  • carried out by Islamic extremists in Xinjiang.

  • Like the 2014 car bomb attack

  • that killed 31 people.

  • Actually, Chinese state-run media

  • has labeled about 15 incidents in Xinjiang

  • to beacts of terrorin the two decades,

  • although it's hard to know how much of that

  • is really terrorism and how much

  • is just regular crime,

  • spun by state-run media to justify

  • the heavy-handed treatment of locals.

  • None of the incidents were claimed by ISIS.

  • But after ISIS became an evil,

  • global sensation in 2014,

  • ISIS tried to take advantage of Uyghur people's

  • widespread anger with the CCP.

  • This study from a US think tank found that

  • 114 ISIS fighters came from Xinjiang.

  • And now, you have ISIS actively recruiting in Xinjiang,

  • even rolling out slickly produced songs in Mandarin to do it.

  • And ISIS is threatening the CCP.

  • But as I mentioned,

  • the CCP kind of created their own problem.

  • For instance,

  • if the Chinese regime hadn't

  • actively destroyed Tibet

  • killing monks, burning temples,

  • and trying to wipe out the culture

  • and instead treated everyone reasonably well,

  • there'd be no anti-China movement

  • in the Tibetan community.

  • And the world might never have seen

  • the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins

  • together on stage at the same time.

  • And in Xinjiang,

  • the CCP's oppression has also bred resentment.

  • Most of the Uyghurs there are very moderate

  • in terms of their religion,

  • and just want to be left alone by the CCP

  • don't we all?

  • But once the CCP started destroying their culture,

  • monitoring their every move,

  • and labeling them as terrorists,

  • it's no wonder some of them have turned violent.

  • And it's no wonder ISIS is now trying to use

  • that anger for its own terrible agenda.

  • Although actually,

  • in a region with 10 million Uyghurs,

  • ISIS has only been able to recruit 114 fighters

  • which is really, really few.

  • And the number of Islamist terrorist attacks in Xinjiang

  • has also been pretty small,

  • compared to the size of the population at least.

  • But it's a great excuse

  • for the world's biggest totalitarian regime

  • to blame the world's scariest terrorist group

  • and oppress millions of innocent Uyghurs, just in case.

  • Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored,

  • once again I'm Chris Chappell,

  • see you next time.

  • Don't let the terrorists win.

  • Visit China.Uncensored.tv.

  • I don't know exactly what that will do

  • to stop the terrorists from winning,

  • but at least you'll be able to see

  • full half hour episodes of China Uncensored.

  • Freedom costs a buck o'five,

  • but this is for free.

  • Visit ChinaUncensored.tv.

On this episode of China Uncensored

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