Mr T
Senior Member
Well, even if the underlying grievances are domestic, sometimes an external authority is needed to oversee and organize demonstrations on this scale, and if we are to believe Chinese authorities, this was the case here.
Err, why should we believe the Chinese authorities? Quite apart from the fact that they always seem to blame foreigners for non-Han unrest (I can't remember the last time they admitted their own policies might play a bit role in it), what hard evidence have they provided that there was some sort of international conspiracy?
As far as I can see it's the usual "trust us because we're Chinese and our critics are foreigners who don't understand/hate China" position.
The question is not where, but who, and I believe that anyone who took part in organizing the riots will die of freak accidents.
Putting aside for a moment the fact that it's highly unlikely the Chinese authorities would ever get comprehensive proof of that, it would be highly stupid to do such a thing. If their agents were ever discovered it would blow back something terrible in China's direction, especially given that it has little international sympathy over this matter.
we have a senior and very experienced Chinese diplomat using the words "Terrorist" External" and "Counterstrike" in context in the same statement. Diplomatic language is very circumspect in this matter (protocol) and you do not use "counterstrike" in the context of Internal security.
Over the years I've noted that China is very good at talking big, but when it comes to firm action it rarely lives up to the hype.
A military operation is out of the question due to lack of capability and a clear target/objective. That would leave a propaganda/diplomatic offensive, but given that the Chinese government has shown so little ability to reflect on its own failings, temper its views in a way that the key foreign administrations here can sympathise with and has such little credibility on matters such as those raised by the Uighur opposition groups, I'm not sure what it can accomplish.
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