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 6th/early 7th centuries C.E., or about 1.5 milennia ago.
The early Caliphates did have contact with the Tang Empire, and traders from Arabia and other parts of the Islamic world were participants in the glorious cosmopolitanism of Tang-era Chang’an.
With the fall of the Tang the silk road became a less inviting trade route, but undaunted traders from the Middle East still made their way to Song Dynasty ports such as Quanzhou in Fujuan. More trade was possible when the road west reopened under Pax Mongolica, and that’s all before we get to the voyages of Zheng He in the Ming…
But Wu’s statement is the just latest example of this odd tendency by Chinese officials to exaggerate history when it’s totally unnecessary. What’s wrong with 1400 years? Do we really need to double down to make it count?
