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2 How the Uyghurs became a ‘terrorist threat’

Abstract

Chapter 2 examines the phenomenon of GWOT and its impact on the Uyghurs and their relationship to the Chinese state. The first half of the chapter recounts the process by which the PRC branded the Uyghurs as a global terrorist threat, beginning shortly after the declaration of GWOT in September 2001, and successfully obtained international recognition of this branding within a year of the war’s beginning. The second half of the chapter charts how this recognition of Uyghurs as a transnational terrorist threat was reified and maintained by the ‘counterterrorism industrial complex’ that developed around GWOT in the US and Europe after 2001. More generally, the chapter highlights how these processes created a flawed narrative about Uyghur terrorism, which was over-exaggerated and assisted in justifying China’s suppression of Uyghur domestic dissent with impunity from the international community.

Abstract

Chapter 2 examines the phenomenon of GWOT and its impact on the Uyghurs and their relationship to the Chinese state. The first half of the chapter recounts the process by which the PRC branded the Uyghurs as a global terrorist threat, beginning shortly after the declaration of GWOT in September 2001, and successfully obtained international recognition of this branding within a year of the war’s beginning. The second half of the chapter charts how this recognition of Uyghurs as a transnational terrorist threat was reified and maintained by the ‘counterterrorism industrial complex’ that developed around GWOT in the US and Europe after 2001. More generally, the chapter highlights how these processes created a flawed narrative about Uyghur terrorism, which was over-exaggerated and assisted in justifying China’s suppression of Uyghur domestic dissent with impunity from the international community.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Map viii
  5. Foreword ix
  6. Preface xii
  7. Introduction 1
  8. 1 Colonialism, 1759–2001 21
  9. 2 How the Uyghurs became a ‘terrorist threat’ 62
  10. 3 Myths and realities of the alleged ‘terrorist threat’associated with Uyghurs 96
  11. 4 Colonialism meets counterterrorism, 2002–2012 140
  12. 5 The self-fulfilling prophecy and the ‘People’s War on Terror,’ 2013–2016 160
  13. 6 Cultural genocide, 2017–2020 198
  14. Conclusion 236
  15. A note on methodology 252
  16. Transliteration and place names 257
  17. List of figures 259
  18. List of abbreviations 260
  19. Acknowledgments 262
  20. Notes 266
  21. Index 301
The War on the Uyghurs
This chapter is in the book The War on the Uyghurs
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526166258.00009

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Map viii
  5. Foreword ix
  6. Preface xii
  7. Introduction 1
  8. 1 Colonialism, 1759–2001 21
  9. 2 How the Uyghurs became a ‘terrorist threat’ 62
  10. 3 Myths and realities of the alleged ‘terrorist threat’associated with Uyghurs 96
  11. 4 Colonialism meets counterterrorism, 2002–2012 140
  12. 5 The self-fulfilling prophecy and the ‘People’s War on Terror,’ 2013–2016 160
  13. 6 Cultural genocide, 2017–2020 198
  14. Conclusion 236
  15. A note on methodology 252
  16. Transliteration and place names 257
  17. List of figures 259
  18. List of abbreviations 260
  19. Acknowledgments 262
  20. Notes 266
  21. Index 301
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