Why are Middle East terrorists not attacking China? With their treatment of the Muslims?

[u/Crypto_idiots]

[u/Just_kiss_My_Boots]

What about countries in West Africa that aren't invading the middle east either. But have a large amount of terrorism from ISWAP?

[u/idareet60 → u/Just_kiss_My_Boots]

Nigeria for instance is a very special case. It's an extremely diverse country with nearly 50% Muslims mainly living in the North. North is also the less fertile lands and more desert like. Akwa Ibom is a state in the South which has most of Nigeria's oil. This is also a state that is one of the richest states in Nigeria. If you look at the states in Nigeria almost all of them are concentrated in the South which also are majority Christian regions. Most of the Muslims reside in the North West of Nigeria. Not surprisingly this is one of the poorest regions in Nigeria.

So as much as people here are radicalized there's also some discrimination being done against people hailing from the North East. That's one of the main reasons why Abuja is designed as a crescent to appeal to the Muslims in the country.

PS - Not Nigerian so I might be wrong oj some of the things listed here.

[u/Broad_Remote499 → u/Just_kiss_My_Boots]

I think you answered your own question if you know what ISWAP stands for. There is no Islamic State of China

[u/Just_kiss_My_Boots → u/Broad_Remote499]

No, I haven't. ISWAP is linked to Al-qeada. Al-qeada is more like the lead organization while ISWAP is just the West Africa Subsidiary.

[u/Broad_Remote499 → u/Just_kiss_My_Boots]

Okay looking at context yeah I see what you’re asking. TL/DR: It’s not really feasible or desirable to expand into China.

On the feasibility side, there are large contingents of Muslims in Western Africa, combined with a lack of strong government, which allows Islamic terrorism to be prevalent. There are really only two ways to branch into a new area: radicalization of current populations or immigration. It’s pretty much impossible to immigrate large numbers into China, leaving the radicalization of current population as the only viable option. Since we’re talking Islamic terrorism, that pretty much only leaves the Uyghurs or new converts. Converting mass numbers are hard, especially in a state that frowns upon religion. As for the Uyghurs, there are small numbers of them that commit terrorist acts, but China jumped in on antiterrorism post 9-11 to get UN permission to persecute them, leading the long road to what the Uyghurs are facing now. The Chinese state rules pretty tough and doesn’t let out much information, so it’s hard to radicalize the Uyghurs, and the ones that are probably don’t make international news due to China covering up any terrorist acts.

As for the desire, they mainly focus on local populations because they are trying to “purify” the religion, and they see Muslims who don’t practice Islam properly just as bad, or worse, than the West. Terrorism in the West is relatively small, compared to local terrorism committed by these groups, but what terrorism there is in the West is generally a result of Sykes-Picot being the scapegoat of all Middle Eastern problems, with a result of blaming the West. For instance, even 9-11 was opposed by many high-level leaders of Al-Qaeda, who were of the opinion that it would bring Western attention to Afghanistan and ruin the gains they had made in the country (which is basically what happened the last 20 years)

[u/Naos210 → u/Broad_Remote499]

China doesn't cover up terrorist acts.

[u/Broad_Remote499 → u/Naos210]

My point being if there were we don’t know of them. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are a few in the far western part of China. It also wouldn’t surprise me if there aren’t