Selected Reviews

Foreign Devils and Philosophers

Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in China

Alíz Horváth

The history of foreign exchange involving the Chinese and other people in Asia and beyond constitutes a relatively wellresearched theme in the existing scholarship. Sino-European relations, in particular, have been extensively studied by a number of renowned scholars, such as Kenneth Pomeranz, Bin Wong, Jonathan Spence, and Leonard Blussé, among others, largely from the perspective of politics, trade, and religion.

Cultural aspects, on the other hand, constitute an emerging, and hitherto less studied, area in the relevant existing literature. Some exceptions include Timothy Brook’s Vermeer’s Hat, which uses specific artifacts as starting points for broader discussions on transnational encounters, as well as Jürgen Osterhammel’s Unfabling the East, which takes a more intellectual historical approach to study the European Enlightenment’s encounter with Asia. Foreign Devils and Philosophers, edited by Thijs Weststeijn, constitutes an ambitious project aiming to refine received assumptions about the mechanisms of Sino-European encounters through the lens of cultural history. To a certain extent, the collaborative and highly diverse characters of the book resemble the three-volume Asia Inside Out series (edited by Eric Tagliacozzo, Helen Siu, and Peter Perdue), which also takes a somewhat unusual approach by zooming in to the significance of specific concepts, moments, and even years in history to shed light on their role in the shaping of Asia – although the latter focuses predominantly on Asian (and not Asian-European) circumstances.

In general, Sino-European relations in the early modern period are often studied through the operations of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and its British version, as well as through the missions of the Jesuits. These appear in the present volume as well, but less as protagonists and rather as platforms, for the most part providing a sort of ‘stage set’ for more specific and narrowly defined analyses to facilitate a more nuanced and diversified understanding of the nature of Sino-European (particularly Dutch) encounters.

The book clearly avoids the oversimplification of the dynamics of Sino-European encounters and provides plenty of information with regard to the key actors of these processes. It thus offers a great inventory of knowledge about the concrete individuals and the characteristics and content of available primary sources. However, the strength of the volume is also its most challenging segment: it is an illuminatingly informative book, particularly for specialists of the field, but in certain essays, the amount of detail provided by the authors may make it difficult for readers who are less knowledgeable about the topic and the time period to follow the flow of the pieces. This issue becomes particularly apparent in the case of specific actors who are not always introduced sufficiently in the essays, implicitly expecting a fairly profound familiarity with their significance.

The book is complemented by an abundant appendix with the translation and transcription of the key primary sources used in the chapters for reference, although some authors embedded fully translated texts into their own essays, which somewhat disrupts the otherwise consistent structure of the book.

That said, the volume constitutes a rich contribution to the field and, using cultural products and ideas as instruments and platforms, it sheds novel light on various (hitherto rarely examined) aspects of early modern foreign encounters. Due to the fairly large time frame covered by the volume, as well as the clear emphasis on chronology in the organization of the chapters, perhaps adding some explicit concluding remarks to reflect on the overarching changes over time would have helped connect the otherwise highly revealing and fascinating dots discussed in the chapters. However, the diversity of methods, sources, and perspectives, which are well-aligned with the complexity of the overarching topic at hand, makes the book relevant to a broad range of scholars interested in Chinese and European history, transnational perspectives, the history of international relations, and early modern cultural history in general.

Reviewed title Foreign Devils and Philosophers: Cultural Encounters between the Chinese, the Dutch, and Other Europeans, 1590-1800

Thijs Weststeijn (ed.). 2020.

Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004418882

This review has been abridged for the print issue. To read the full version, visit https://www. iias.asia/the-review/foreigndevils-and-philosophers

“The Dutch delegation led by Van Hoorn dines with a Chinese viceroy.” Pieter van Hoorn visited the Imperial Court of China in 1662-1663. (Source: Jacob van Meurs, c. 1670) Courtesy Wikimedia. Alíz Horváth, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary

Kim-kwong Chan

Reviewed title Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in China: Domestic and Foreign Policy Dimensions

This edited volume is a collection of eight papers from a conference by different experts of this field, including the editor’s own contribution. The editor, Michael Clarke, also wrote a comprehensive introduction to situate these eight chapters within China's socio-political context of terrorism. Michael Clarke (ed.). 2018.

London: Hurst & Company. ISBN 9781849048774

This volume examines many topics: the social unrest of Xinjiang's predominate Uyghurs since China's ‘Peaceful Liberation’ of this region in 1949, China's joining of the Global War on Terrorism after 9/11, the formulation of anti-terrorism policies and regulations targeting the Uyghurs vis-à-vis domestic terrorists activities, the development of foreign policies to protect China's interest of the Belt Road Initiative, and the globalization of Uyghurs’ ‘terrorist’ involvements in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. This volume intends “(i) to map and understand the nature of the threat posed to China by terrorism; (ii) to provide an up-todate account of how that threat is perceived, understood and responded to by China; and (iii) to provide insights into the effects of terrorism on China’s domestic and foreign policy” (p.13). It also makes suggestions for Chinese policymakers to re-think their current anti-terrorism policies in light of the analysis made by the contributors’ chapters.

Because there are not many Uyghur terrorist cases – neither in China nor abroad – a few cases are often repeatedly mentioned by various contributors in their respective chapters, with perhaps similar details released by state authorities or by experts with little verification. However, such redundancy in some of the chapters is unavoidable, as the primary data available for researchers are extracted from this limited batch. Several contributors also raise doubt about the authenticity of some of these cases – i.e., whether they are bona fide terrorist activities or just general grievances voiced and enacted by those who happen to be Uyghur. There is strong evidence to suggest that the authorities have exploited such cases to justify the establishment of a comprehensive ‘national security’ governance starting with Xinjiang. Furthermore, some contributors cast doubt on the ‘terrorist’ nature of some of the groups listed by the Chinese authorities. An interesting example is the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which was officially unlisted as a terrorist organization by the United States in November 2020, as the group has had virtually no function for many years.

This volume has raised an important issue, one which speculates the intentions of Chinese policymakers: does the Chinese state develop anti-terrorism policies to address the issue of terrorism – be it real or imagined – as stated in official documents, or does the Chinese state use the few seemingly terrorist activities as a rally point to launch comprehensive national security measures to deal with the long-term socio-political grievances expressed by the Uyghurs? As for the former, the current policies seem unable to achieve their intended purpose; as for the latter, since the publication of this volume, the state has built more ‘re-education/ vocational’ facilities in Xinjiang, allegedly with capacity for a million. The authorities have also implemented one of the most comprehensive personal surveillance and real-time biometric tracking system in the world, covering over 10 million people in Xinjiang.

Although this volume focuses on terrorism and counter-terrorism in China, the policies which China developed seem to have parallels with other policies against other dissident groups, such as so-called cults like Falungong or Church of Almighty God. There are similar ‘re-education/vocational’ schools specially built for those ex-cult members as well. These are meant to direct members away from religious extremism, just as similar schools in Xinjiang seek to eradicate religious extremism from the Uyghurs. Also, the Sinicization measures implemented in Inner Mongolia and Tibet – e.g., increasing the teaching of Han language as opposed to local ethnic minority languages – echo the language policy implemented upon the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. According to official justifications, this is all done to prevent possible separatism and terrorism for the goal of national unity. The National Security Law implemented in Hong Kong since July 2020 as a counter-measure against the prolonged social unrest movements by Hong Kongers – politically interpreted by the authorities as terrorism and separatism – also resembles regulations seen in Xinjiang. This volume raises important topics about the governance of China on national security and threats through the lens of terrorism, yet it also reaches beyond the theme of terrorism and counter-terrorism into a much wider field for further exploration. As such, this volume is a must for serious students of China's governance.