By Josh Chin
The Wall Street Journal - Nov. 8, 2013
BEIJING—Two deadly attacks in China in the
weeks leading up to a much-anticipated leadership meeting have set off
debate around the thorny question of what China considers to be
terrorism.
State media said the culprit
in the latest attack, in which homemade explosives detonated outside a
Communist Party building in central China, was "dissatisfied with
society." Meanwhile, officials and state media have said a suicide
attack last week at Beijing's Tiananmen Square was the work of
terrorists.
The displays of disharmony
come at a sensitive time as the new generation of leaders gathers this
weekend in Beijing to set China on a path to more sustainable growth and
address some of the inequalities that have been exacerbated by decades
of breakneck expansion.
Both attacks
involved political targets, and both took the lives of bystanders. But
the different reactions they have produced, both on the part of
authorities and online, has led to questions inside and outside China
about how to characterize acts of violence with political overtones
there.
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