Dr. Anat Hochberg – Marom : International counter-terrorism situation and China's counter-terrorism policy


Interview background            

On August 17,2020, the 2020 Asia Pacific Public Security Forum was successfully held.During the forum, The experts and scholars at the conference from various countries discussed counter-terrorism security, international counter-terrorism cooperation, the Line of defense through big data and international security standards in the light of the epidemic situation. Pointing the Hot Topics for the forum,CGE insight invented one of the key guests at the conference Dr.Anat Hochberg-Marom for online interview.


Time of the interview:August 15,2020

Location: CGE International Exchange Center

Screenshot of the interview----Anat Hochberg-Marom

Screenshot of the interview——Host


Host:Could you please introduce the current international counter-terrorism situation?


Anat Hochberg-Marom:Let’s look from the broader, from the global perspective,terrorism is here to stay.In other words, the radicalization process, unfortunately, is not gone at all.Although there is a reduction in terrorist attacks, still, the radicalization process, I would say, is just growing and increasing.There is a growing trend of radicalization and extremism. All over the world, specifically in Europ.When we go deeper into the process,the enabling factors are even tougher and broader than we can imagine,because there is a high trend of unemployment,and spread of these information from the west,from terrorist and extremist organizations,this is the basic line that we have to tackle. that people adapt to extreme ideologies and extreme values,that cause them go into deeper engagement and involvements into terrorism world.In other words, we see today because of the global pandemic,we see high unemployment and poor economic prospects,and all these structural reasons that cause further radicalization.And to think how we can share the knowledge,share the information, and bring about a pool of knowledge,in order to articulate and define very specific,counter-terrorism and counter-radicalization strategies and process, and policies.


Host:In the context of the "One Belt One Road", how should China combat terrorism?


Anat Hochberg-Marom:When I talked about the ideological struggle,which means war of ideas.For example, the terrorist and extremist organizations,we have to go thoroughly to understand very deeply,and to very well understand their religious values,and the way they present it, they frame it,to explain how do they make it in a wrong way and cause people to believe them.


Host:In order to maintain stability of our domestic society,the Chinese government has already applied some actions in Xinjiang Province.Therefore, from your perspective, do you have any thought that you want to share with us on this topic?


Anat Hochberg-Marom: China’s border areas account for 18% of China’s population,which is the six large areas of China, and it’s very important,geopolitically and significantly important to China.Extremists, that want to be separated, to have their own region.I would say that in case they fight against the mainstream population,all these extremists, should be taken away from there.


HostDo you know the Uyghur Human Right Policy Act 2020 issued by the Trump Administration?Do you have any opinion on this ?


Anat Hochberg-Marom:But first, let’s go to the root causes, let’s go deeper into the current underlying platform,It’s not only what the authority do, It’s not the way the Chinese act, but how it is translated by the outside world.In fact, the West does not understand what happened in Xinjiang.


Host:In your opinion, how can the Chinese government do to let people know what they are actually doing?


Anat Hochberg-Marom: I think China is experiencing a competition against terrorism.The Chinese government needs to throw them into prison,in order to let them understand what they caused other people.As an international counter-terrorism expert, I support and understand the counter-terrorism policy adopted by the Chinese government in Xinjiang.