Root of Religious Extremist Thought and Sino-Arab Cooperation on Deradicalization

Abstract: Islam is a religion that advocates peace and abides by “the doctrine of balance”. However, religious extremism is a “tumor” for the development of Islam, and leads to an alienation of Islam. After the 9/11 attacks, Islamic extremism reappeared, mainly reflected in: 1) the teachings of Islam being distorted, and the civil movement of the Islamic revival leading to the mire of extremism; 2) Jihad ideology of Islam being misread, and the Islamic revival tending to be politicized and increasingly extreme; 3) Al-Qaeda, the “Islamic State” (IS) and other terrorist organizations were rapidly expanding, which drove Islamic extremism globally. The causes of the above circumstances are complex and have far-reaching impacts. The religious extremism has stolen the discourse right of the interpretation of scriptures, resulting in the formation of religious extremism discourse. This became the deep-rooted reason of trends of religious extremism, and also led to the necessity of launching de-radicalization policies. In global anti-terrorism activities, China showed its uniqueness in seeking to play a constructive role in coordinating efforts of three major international anti-terrorist groups. This paper holds that cooperation between China and the Middle East countries on de-radicalization activities could focus on measures such as creating shared consensus in anti-terrorism, advancing the interpretation of scriptures, improving religious dialogue mechanisms, and highlighting the unique role of patriotic religious leaders and other initiatives, in order to effectively prevent religious extremism from expanding.