Experts denounce Kunming massacre

Foreign scholars and analysts condemn Saturday's deadly terrorists attack on civilians in Kunming and express condolences to the victims' families.

Jon Taylor, political science professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston

As of this morning, I am still waiting for the US government to express their condolences for 3/1 attack. This was not "terrorism" in quotes, to use the approach of several Western media sources. It was terrorism - period - without quotation marks. The US needs to recognize this by stating that they condemn terrorism anywhere - including China - and provide offers of assistance if China asks. In light of the lack of a US statement after the Uyghur terrorist attack in front of Tian'anmen Gate on Oct 28, 2013, the White House needs to provide a strong, supportive, and coherent statement on 3/1 terror attack.

I also think that this was deliberately timed to disrupt the opening of the Lianghui. The terrorist attack will likely push domestic security and social stability concerns to top the agenda for both the CPPCC and the NPC. Instead of frightening China, the terrorists will in all likelihood strengthen China's resolve to fight both separatism and terrorism.

Samuel Nyanchoga, an expert of East African security issues from the Catholic University of East Africa

Since last year and the beginning of this year there has been an increase of sporadic attacks on the civilians in china. I think this could be as a result of the minority Muslims trying to make a statement on their separist movement and it could be also as a result of maybe external support from other terrorist groups which are supporting the minority Muslim.

Terrorist groups are very well organized groups they have their own ideology, they have their own set of values that they want to communicate they maybe wanting either to destabilize the government or to make a political statement so they use terrorism as a way of making their demands met.

I think we need to put a national, continental and even international framework on security issues where security agents will share information particularly in the movement of the terrorist groups. So intelligence networking would be one of the most important things that countries should now focus on.

Pierre Picquart, a China observer and professor of geopolitics at the University of Paris VIII

The attack is very shocking and it demonstrated a new development of terrorism which tends to target massive innocent civilians in China.

"Fighting against terrorism is a major challenge for every country and now we can see clearly it is also a major goal of Chinese authorities. Given the hidden nature of terrorism, it is a highly difficult task to fight and prevent it but the government should take firm actions to root out terrorist activities and organizations. In the mean time, the authorities should offer as much information and communication as possible to the public as part of the effort to fight and prevent similar attacks in the future," he said.

Picquart noted countries should make closer cooperation and exchange expertise and experience in fighting against terrorism.

In July 1995, Paris was hit by a deadly bomb attack by Islamic extremists in one of its busiest metro stations Saint-Michel. The attack killed eight people and wounded 117. 

David Fouquet, president of European Institue for Asian Studies

The attacks were shocking and horrific. Let’s hope this was an isolated event and that China does not find itself in a chronic spiral of violence as other countries across the world have sometimes faced.

Assuming that the attack come from a certain minority population, the acts should be thoroughly investigated and dealt with in a comprehensive way from a security and legal point of view and the social and political side. After finding and punishing the perpetrators, the possibly more difficult challenge in the longer term will be to de-radicalise a segment of the population.

That’s not just a police and security challenge but one that must involve other social, psychological, economic and political initiatives to address the root causes of such problems. It’s something that not only requires zero tolerance for such acts but a human approach to deal with effectively for all parties.

Dennis Pamlin, founder of Sweden-based The 21st Century Frontiers

It is a terrible tragedy, but I have very little information about the attack. At this stage it is important focus on compassion with the victims and and make sure that no other attacks are under way. Later it is important to analyse the underlying causes to this event. Many times the reason for horrible events like this can be found in events and policies that are many decades old. Sometimes these are just random acts of violence, but often these events are symptoms of other challenges in society like income gaps, gang identities. lack of vision for the future. So it is important to explore both reactive and proactive policies.