China wants to counter violent extremism in South Asia. China claims the best way of doing this is by addressing “the root causes”. China builds on the experiences of infrastructure development: thus, China sees poverty and violent extremism as interlinked. As this development strategy might have worked well in certain areas of China, it contains challenges in South Asia. I will make two arguments in exploring the challenges to the Chinese approach: First, I investigate Chinese experiences in Xinjiang; Second, I discuss the security situation in Pakistan and what challenges this poses to China Pakistan Economic Corridor project.
Lars Erslev Andersen, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). Research areas: China and the security situation in South Asia and The Persian Gulf. USA and Global Order Theory.
E-mail: lea@diis.dk.
