President Trump Should Call for a Summit between US, China and Russia on Islamic Terror

The nuclear powers must cooperate to prevent conflicts from escalating

By Rebecca Bynum

An image from the Chechen war

Last week the Chinese State Commissioner for counterterrorism and security, Cheng Guoping, stated that the Muslim separatist movement in XinJiang known as the East Turkistan Independence Movement (ETIM) poses “the most prominent challenge to China’s social stability, economic development and national security.” These comments came about a week after a video purportedly by the Islamic State group surfaced showing Uighurs training in Iraq, vowing to plant their flag in China and saying that blood will “flow in rivers.”

In last August’s foreign policy address, President Trump vowed to re-orient our foreign policy around the goal of halting the spread of radical Islam. Trump expressed the desire to welcome new allies and to re-orient NATO around this goal as well. A summit on this issue giving a place at the table to China and to Russia would be a bold and timely move.

Such a summit would signal to the world we are serious about wanting a global re-alignment to confront this global threat aimed at destroying civilization. It would signal to the Russians that the US will no longer automatically favor everything and anything Russia opposes, such as the independence of Chechnya, which like Xinjiang in China, is the Russian province with the highest percentage of Muslims and hence a “restive” population.

Talking with China and Russia on the issue of North Korea should also be included. Neither China nor Russia want to see a nuclear exchange so close to their borders and neither country wants to be drawn into a wider conflict sparked by the unpredictable Kim Jong-Un.

The great nuclear powers might begin to open sturdy channels of communication and begin cooperation to prevent any potential conflict from sparking a large scale nuclear conflagration. Both Iran and North Korea should be thwarted early in their ambitions as budding nuclear powers which will soon be able to hold the entire world hostage to their demands. The civilized world must defend itself and use pre-emptive measures if necessary. But in order for any kind of pre-emptive strike to be effective and relatively safe, the great nuclear powers must be on board well in advance.

The deal Clinton made with North Korea failed. The deal Obama made with Iran is failing. Both situations require the combined and coordinated pressure from the great powers. President Trump has the opportunity to demonstrate leadership on the world stage. Now is the time for a summit.