9/11 Special: Ten Years Later: Is China America's Antiterrorism Ally?

Soon after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the Bush administration turned to China looking for collaboration¹ in its counterterrorism campaign. Ten years later, the two countries' joint² antiterrorism efforts are still largely restrained in strategic dialogues.

As Su Yi reports, analysts³ say it's because the two nations have different strategic concerns and different understandings of global terrorism, although the gap now seems to be getting narrower.

 
The FBI set up an office inside the U.S. embassy in Beijing one year after 9/11. A handful of staffers under a Chinese-American director are responsible for sharing information with their Chinese counterparts.

Also after the attacks that killed nearly three-thousand people, the U.S. opened the gate for the export of key antiterrorism equipment and technology to China. Its security personnel were seen on the streets of Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.

Melvyn Leffler is a history professor at the University of Virginia.

"What strikes me about the Bush administration after 9/11 is, I think, there was a much more pronounced effort to try to collaborate⁴ and cooperate and work out differences with China. To some extent, they were quite successful in doing that."

Despite the two countries' repeated promises to deepen antiterrorism cooperation and support each other's efforts, they have actually done something together in the War on Terror.

International relations experts such as Zhang Yao from the Shanghai Institute of International Studies say this comes as no surprise because the two countries face different terrorist threats.

Wang Wei is Director of the Antiterrorism Department at China's Ministry⁵ of Public Security. He says in general, the terrorist threat to China is not as prominent as it is in the United States. Most of the known terrorist groups are active in China's northwestern Xinjiang autonomous⁶ region, which have limited links to international terrorist groups. But these groups are incapable⁷ of posing any threat to the United States and its troops in Afghanistan.

Moreover, America's basic foreign policy on emerging powers, including China, did not have any fundamental changes after 9/11.

History professor Melvyn Leffler again:

"Yes, the policies and priorities of the Bush administration did shift, the administration did embrace a war on terror, but the most fundamental elements actually coincided and were consistent with many long-term trends in the history of American foreign policy."

More fundamentally, as international relations expert Zhang Yao says, perhaps the only commonalities that China and the U.S. share in the antiterrorism campaign are some broad principals.

"The two countries differ on what terrorism is, who should be labeled terrorists, and what approach is the most effective to fight against terrorism."

One Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said ahead of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 that development and improving people's livelihoods⁸ are the ways to root out terrorism.

Coincidently, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton also said the U.S. is now combining diplomacy⁹, development and necessary military action to achieve its antiterrorism goals.

As the United States has started to hand over security responsibilities in Afghanistan and the War on Terror is expected to take a back seat in the 2012 presidential election, China and the U.S. may find more common ground on counterterrorism campaigns in the future.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.

1 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

7 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

8 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

9 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。