Rising terrorism brings countries together

Source:Global Times Published: 2015-1-22 21:18:01

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT



Many people, especially those living in New York, still remember the pain, the tears and the fear the 9/11 attacks brought. But while those watching the twin towers collapse knew it was a transformational event, few of us quite realized that terrorism would define so much of our world from then on.

In the past few weeks, we have seen the deadly hostage siege in Sydney, the series of bloody attacks in Paris, and several foiled plots in Europe and the US. The airwaves and the Internet have been dominated by talk of what's next.

One can only assume that there will be more incidents to come. By now, most of us have realized that there is no way we can eradicate terrorism anytime soon. This may sound like a depressing and suffocating conclusion, one that suggests we have a giant shadow over our daily lives and we are not in a position to move away from it.

But even this grim picture has a silver lining, and it is becoming more and more apparent.

I clearly remember the frustration I had when communicating with my friends in China right after the 9/11 attacks. As an international student studying in New York, I was saddened by the attacks and saw how deeply wounded the city was. But for a brief moment, before they really realized what had happened, some friends in China were in almost a celebratory mood. In their eyes, September 11 was a lesson for the US for being so arrogant. 

Such unnerving responses are no more. Today, whenever a barbarous terrorist attack happens and wherever it happens, thunderous roars rise immediately from much of the world to condemn the brutality. The latest symbol of this was the rally in Paris after the bloodshed at Charlie Hebdo, at which more than 40 world leaders from different countries stood shoulder to shoulder.

Indeed, anti-terrorism might be the only cause in the world that can really unite leaders around the globe. National interests get in the way of dealing with most of the other problems in the world, from poverty to global warming. There may be a consensus that the world should be addressing them, but rarely is there an agreement on how to do so on a world scale. And deals that are done tend to get broken.

Developing nations, for example, are very suspicious when developed countries preach to them about the need to control carbon emissions after those developed countries have built their development on polluting industries.

Yet the anti-terrorism struggle is a different story: When the US introduces new airport security measures, inevitably airports around the world follow. When people were murdered by cleaver-wielding attackers at the Kunming railroad station in China, President Barack Obama denounced the attack. And even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas put aside their differences and marched together at the rally in Paris. It was a rare sign of unity.

Of course, there are still different opinions and distrust. Israel and Palestine will never agree on the definition of terrorism in their own territories. Turkey is not happy at being portrayed as an enabler of the Islamic State. And China's crackdown on unrest in Xinjiang has led to criticism in the West. In recent police operations, some armed Uyghurs who were being smuggled out of China were shot dead, leading to questions by some international organizations who suggested that anti-terrorism is being used as an excuse to justify human rights violations.

But all of these arguments are likely to fade as soon as there is a major attack. And there will be increasing cooperation between security services around the world - if a known terrorist leaves China or Russia for the US or vice versa, there will be international tracking and collaboration to stop attacks.

And there won't be much discussion about human rights, even if some innocent people get hurt in the process, because all countries will realize eventually that they themselves are facing the challenge of balancing security and human rights like everyone else. The right to privacy around the world will continue to disintegrate as well. This is part of the price.

The author is a New York-based journalist. rong_xiaoqing@hotmail.com

Posted in: Columnists, Rong Xiaoqing

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