China and State Sponsored Terrorism

China and State Sponsored Terrorism refers to the involvement of the Chinese Communist regime in supporting various different terrorist organizations throughout the world.

Al-Qaeda

A captured senior Al-Qaeda agent in Europe by the name of Ben Heni has said that China paid Osama Bin Laden $10 million for the remnants of cruise missiles left over from the 1998 attack by the U.S on Afghanistan.^[1]^[2] On March 9, in a rundown flat in the Milan suburb of Gallarate, Ben Heni met the leader of the Italian cell of Al-Qaeda, Sami Ben Khemais Essid, and told him of his experiences in Afghanistan visiting Osama Bin Laden's camps. Unknown to the men was that the Italian police had bugged the flat. "Perhaps the Americans are convinced by the bombardment of the sheikh's training (Bin Laden's) centers. For them it was a victory. But in fact it was a defeat because the majority of the missiles didn't even explode."

After a brief digression, Essid continued saying that, "With these weapons, he (Bin Laden) has boosted his financial resources. From every part of the world businessmen who hate Americans have come to study American missile strategy. In particular businessmen have come from China. He works a great deal with China. He's got good relations with them."

"You see them and you ask 'But what are they doing here?' In the end, you understand that they work for the sheikh and that they came to study these missiles."

"Thanks to the money that comes from these studies from outside, he created the army of mohajedin headed by Omar Zayan (or Zaghan) in Chechnya."

Taliban

China's ties with the Taliban go back before 9/11.^[3] According to U.S intelligence officials, China's Huawei and ZTE were working on the telecom system in Kabul 2 years prior to the 9/11 attacks. Additionally, in December 2001, Indian Intelligence reported that Huawei supplied communications and surveillance equipment to the Taliban.

In 2007, BBC reported that China supplied the Taliban with surface to air missiles, anti-aircraft guns, landmines, rocket propelled grenades, and components for IED's. A senior Afghan official told BBC, "Chinese HN-5 anti-aircraft missiles are with the Taliban, we know this... and we are worried where do the Taliban get them, some of these weapons have been made recently in Chinese factories." Another Afghan official spoke on the matter: "Serial numbers and other information from most of the Chinese weapons have been removed in most cases and it's almost impossible for us to find out where they come from but we have shared our concerns with the Chinese and the Americans also."

ISIS

According to a Conflict Armament Research(CAR) report, 43.5% of the weapons ISIS uses are from China. Chinese rockets such as the 57mm UB-16, 107mm Type 63 and the 122m BM-21 have been found in the hands of ISIS. CAR is only aware of how about 7% of the weapons got into ISIS hands, but the rest of the 93% still remains a mystery. ^[4]

Hamas

In 2008, Hamas fired Chinese WS-1E 122mm rockets at Israel. According to Defense Update, "These artillery rocket systems are employed by the People's Republic of China and were widely exported to third world countries." ^[5] In 2012, families of 8 terror victims of the 2008 Mercaz HaRav massacre in Jerusalem, filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the Bank of China for financing Hamas through its New York branch. ^[6]

Hezbollah

In the 2006 Lebanon War, Hezbollah was found to be using Chinese made Type 81 122mm rockets against Israeli targets.^[7] In 2015, Hezbollah received a shipment of Chinese weapons.^[8]