Double standards hinder fight against terrorism

Worse, their extremist ideas have been spread to Western societies and poisoned the minds of young people there. From the hostage siege in Sydney to the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, more and more Western countries are facing an increasing threat from homegrown terrorists, who, more often than not, operate alone. To some countries in the Western world, terrorists are not al-Qaida or IS militants rampaging tens of thousands of miles away but hidden in their own community.

The new features in terrorism and extremism stem from complicated political, economic, social, racial and religious backgrounds. With the escalation of the terrorist threat worldwide, no country can claim it is immune from the scourge, neither can it deal with the threat alone.

Hence, wherever a terrorist threat is posed, all countries should cope with it together and support the efforts to crack down on it without selectivity. In the war against terror, the international community needs to shore up the consensus that there should be no room for the practice of double standards.

Double standards have remained a major obstacle to the democratization of international relations. Even when it comes to the issue of terrorism, the inappropriate practice also prevails from time to time. Terrorist attacks in a Western metropolis always draw worldwide attention while those in Africa appear to have only limited repercussions.

The world needs to stress that every life is precious regardless of their socioeconomic status, race or belief and terrorism is the common enemy of the whole mankind. It should form a truly united front and countries should support each other in the war against terrorism.

More should be done to strengthen information and intelligence sharing, break the links of cross-border terrorism, cut the funding chains of terrorist groups and combat the illegal arms trade.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. wanghui@chinadaily.com.cn