Who are the "terrorists"? Whose responsibility is it to fight terrorism? ...... They talk about "counterterrorism."

A girl holds her brother in her arms at a homeless camp in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, on September 16. (Xinhua News Agency Kava Basharat/Photo)

It's been 20 years since 9/11, and in the past 20 years, the United States has waged many wars in the name of "counter-terrorism," costing $8 trillion and killing 900,000 people. But the spectre of terrorism is still hovering, and the current global challenge posed by terrorism has reached unprecedented levels. One wonders why terrorism, far from being eradicated, has spread so much.

In the face of the real threat of terrorism and extremism in the new situation, on October 13, 2021, more than 70 domestic and foreign experts and scholars expressed their views at the Fourth International Symposium on "Counter-Terrorism, De-Extremification and Human Rights Protection" with the topic of "counter-terrorism".

<h3>What is "counter-terrorism"? Who are the "terrorists"? </h3>

Although there have been no more terrorist attacks on the scale of 9/11, terrorist incidents still occur from time to time, and counter-terrorism has become the general consensus of the international community. What is counterterrorism? Who are the real terrorists? How to define terrorists at different stages?

Max Abrams (Associate Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University and an expert on counterterrorism): "Counterterrorism" and "terrorism" are not 100% objective and clear concepts. However, it is mainly judged by three criteria: "terrorist organizations" are non-state subjects, and their violent actions target civilians and express certain political demands with actions.

If some organizations are funded, supplied by the State or propaganda, are they "military forces" or "terrorist organizations"? For example, many perpetrators of violent terrorist acts are anonymous, and it is impossible to find out who they really are, nor can they know their political demands.

Intergovernmental decisions on "terrorism" are irreconcilable contradictions, likely to disagree with each other and even disagree within a country. In fact, the more crucial question is not how "terrorism" is defined, but who the label is attached to. Being identified as a "terrorist" or "terrorist organization" is more likely to feel anger from a government or the international community.

In general, there is debate in academic circles about what constitutes "terrorism" and who is a "terrorist", but there is greater disagreement intergovernmental and even within states.

<h3>Is counterterrorism only the responsibility of the government? </h3>

For a long time, although people talked about counter-terrorism, they did not take it as their own responsibility – that was "the business of the state". With the continuous development of informatization, terrorist organizations are increasingly using the Internet, especially social media as a propaganda tool, to infiltrate the minds of ordinary people. Is counter-terrorism the sole responsibility of government agencies?

Zhao Yonghua (Professor, School of Journalism, Chinese University): On 2 May 2021, the Uk Foreign Secretary announced that he had allocated £8 million to the BBC for "rumor-busting funds" to deal with rumors, including from Russia. Subsequently, the Russian Foreign Ministry retorted, saying that by creating fake news to make excuses for interfering in other countries, the United States and britain had long been convicted.

Many countries use social media to amplify fake news, which has become a new trend in the current information war and public opinion war: traces of computational propaganda have been found in many political events such as the US election, the Brexit referendum, the Syrian conflict, the Brazilian election, the Mexican election, and the Ukraine crisis.

During the Cold War, although there was no direct military conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, the two sides set off a large-scale space race and a nuclear weapons race in the field of technology, and it was in this context that the Internet was created in the United States as a weapon of military warfare. Since entering the 21st century, the world has once again experienced escalating competition in the field of technology, and the US military even regards cyberspace as a fifth-dimensional battlefield beyond land, sea, air and space.

Since 2016, the "black swan" events have been frequent, "post-truth" has become a new era feature, contradictions in the ideological field have intensified, and these changes in the international situation have led to changes in the production rules of international news, and the complexity, scale of production, and the speed and effect of fake news production have changed accordingly. With the help of algorithms, misleading information and rumors spread faster and more widely than the truth, and all kinds of fake news, misleading information and propaganda content make it impossible for the public to distinguish between true and false.

From a macro geopolitical point of view, the current new information warfare characterized by computational propaganda is affecting the distribution of discourse power in global geopolitics, and may even have an impact on the global geopolitical landscape. Studies have found that there is a lot of computational propaganda aimed at China in tweets related to Chinese politics.

It can be seen that the international public opinion environment and international competition pattern that China is facing are more complex. To address this situation, a global governance framework needs to be established, which requires extensive cooperation between national actors and international organizations.

<h3>Can "terrorists" be transformed? </h3>

What is the end point of counter-terrorism? When terrorists go to jail, is it over? When the smoke clears, will peace come naturally?

Adi Prasset (Expert, Indonesian National Counterterrorism Bureau): De-radicalization and counter-radicalization are the two pillars of the fight against extremism. "De-extremification" focuses on the special prevention of terrorists, is a corrective measure for those who have accepted extremist ideas, and the specific means cover religious, psychological, educational and other aspects, pursuing "personalization" and helping them completely abandon extremist ideas and terrorist acts. "Anti-extremism" focuses on the general prevention of social danger elements, and through the use of legal, political, economic, cultural, social and other methods, to establish a "firewall" and "isolation belt" between the public (especially the groups and individuals who are susceptible to the "corrosion" of extremist ideas) and extremist ideas, tending to "generalize" and pay more attention to appeal.

Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency's steps on de-radicalization in prisons are roughly divided into four steps:

The first is identification, which relies mainly on the collection of data for analysis; second, correction, so that their mentality changes from radical to more inclusive, more peaceful, and professional individual and group therapy in prisons; third, re-education of released prisoners to ensure that they will no longer engage in terrorist activities; and finally, through the provision of life skills training, etc., to help them reintegrate into society.

When we build bridges between people with differences, peace is possible. We are committed to education for sustainable development, which aims to bridge global citizenship and nation-building to achieve a resilient and balanced society.

<h3>How "finance" counter-terrorism</h3>

When the deaths and injuries caused by "terrorist organizations" attract most of the attention, along the source and destination of terrorist organizations' funds, they find and track terrorist organizations, cut off their capital chains, and become an important topic of financial counter-terrorism. China's financial counter-terrorism efforts continue to make progress, but what problems remain?

Xiang Li (Deputy Director, Human Rights Research Center, Shandong University): The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the most influential intergovernmental international organization in the field of anti-money laundering and financial counter-terrorism in the world today. China has joined the FATF since 2007, and despite the continuous progress in financial counter-terrorism efforts, there are still many problems.

For example, China's international cooperation laws on financial counter-terrorism have limited application and response times to requests for mutual legal assistance and extradition have been slow. At the same time, channels of international cooperation and legal assistance are used less in the investigation of terrorist financing. In addition, regulators lack specialized international cooperation on terrorist financing, which often provides an opportunity for terrorist financing.

In the future, to continue to promote international cooperation in financial counter-terrorism, the following aspects deserve special attention:

First, China should enhance the exchange of information on money laundering and terrorist financing cases, while increasing the number of active information transmission and cooperation requests to foreign counterparts; second, China should ensure that cooperation can be carried out in a faster and more efficient manner, in this regard, it should improve procedures in the area of mutual legal assistance and reduce the time required to implement cooperation requests received and the issuance of cooperation requests; third, China should consider allocating more resources to help timely implement requests to China in mutual legal assistance, At the same time, systematic training is provided for all personnel dealing with mutual legal assistance and international cooperation, and finally, China's requests for mutual legal assistance should be consistent with the geographical distribution of the risk of terrorist financing, while ensuring that information on beneficial ownership is provided in a timely and adequate manner.

<h3>How to effectively counter terrorism on a global scale</h3>

Can terrorism be eradicated? How can the world achieve effective counter-terrorism?

Hu Changming (Spanish, senior contributor to people's daily news): Terrorism and extremism seriously threaten peace and development and endanger the safety of personal lives and property. Vigorously combating terrorism and promoting the process of de-radicalization is the common responsibility of the international community and the foundation for the protection of human rights.

Terrorism cannot be eradicated, the root causes lie in poverty and inequality, and the key lies in education and development. There is no room for terror in the world of development, no room for development in the world of terror. This is the experience I have learned from China's methods and practices in combating terrorism.

In 2019, I went to Turpan City, Xinjiang, and not only learned about how the locals embrace and preserve the beautiful intangible cultural heritage, but also had the opportunity to communicate directly with them, visit local schools, houses, and even attend traditional Uyghur weddings in Shanshan County.

When I visited a primary school in the town of Lukqin, I saw young students learning and learning traditional culture by taking local music and language courses. Everyone is absorbing education, and Xinjiang is not only safer, but also happier. There have been no reports of terrorist attacks since 2017, thanks to the effectiveness of China's counterterrorism efforts.

Combating terrorism and eliminating the spread of extremism is an arduous task facing the whole world. It is important to take effective counter-terrorism measures. Development is the key to solving all problems. At the same time, there is no "good" or "bad" terrorism, only "terrorism" as a criterion.

The 21st century has taken humanity to a new phase that it has never experienced before, but there are still many people living in the shadow of terrorism. If all States join forces to combat terrorism and achieve world peace, it is just around the corner.

Southern Weekend reporter Wang Yaolin Southern Weekend intern Sun Yue