In a rambling recitation of CCP talking points an interview with Al-Jazeera, China’s special envoy to the Middle East Wu Sike attempted to mend fences with those in the Islamic world who might have taken umbrage to the Chinese government’s response to the riots in Xinjiang.
In true CCP-style, Wu responds to the question “What happened in Xinjiang” with that specialty of Chinese officialdom, “the half-baked historical claim.”
“Wu Sike: Chinese relations with Arabs and Muslims date back to two or three millennia.”
Either Wu needs help with his history or his math.
There is little doubt that the early civilizations in what is today China interacted with other cultures in western Asia dating back to the neolithic period. While Chinese historians aren’t fond of dwelling on the topic, items such as the domesticated horse (and its 2.0 version the chariot) likely came to China as a result of such interactions, as did other useful advances including the cultivation of wheat and the compound bow. In the same way, aspects of what would become Chinese culture, notably the use of silk, flowed west. BUT…
Western Asia is not “Arabia” and Islam first appeared on the scene only in the late