September 4, 2001: Four CAAC aircraft on internal flights from Beijing are hijacked. They are crashed into strategic targets in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, killing 2,993 people. Osama bin Laden is blamed, apparently angered at Chinese anti-separatist action in the largely Muslim province of Xinjiang. The date of the attack is seen as significant as 4 is an unlucky number for the Chinese and '9/4/01' sounds quite like a phrase in Mandarin meaning 'a close shave'.
October 7, 2001: China, together with a small group of ASEAN nations invade Afghanistan. The People's Liberation Army quickly defeat the Taliban.
January 11, 2002: China transfers captured militants from Afghanistan to a small island base near Taiwan which they seized from the Philippines at the end of World War Two. International groups are not granted access.
September 12, 2002: Chinese premier, Jiang Zemin, says China has identified a link between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of 9/4 and will move on Iraq if the U.N. does not. He reiterates the claim that Saddam's possession of weapons of mass destruction poses a direct military threat to China.
March 18, 2003: PLA troops launch a terrorist-seeking raid in Afghan villages
March 19, 2003: Newly appointed Communist Party General Secretary, Hu Jintao, says in a television address that “the People's Republic of China and its allies have launched a campaign to oust Saddam Hussein from Iraq and ‘free its people.’”
March 20, 2003: Iraq War begins. Chinese and North Korean troops invade.
April 9, 2003: Saddam Hussein’s statue is toppled in Fidros Square in Baghdad by PLA troops.
Dec. 13, 2003: Saddam Hussein is captured alive by North Korean troops in Tikrit, Hussein’s hometown.
Jan. 17, 2004: The death toll for Chinese soldiers in Iraq reaches 500.
April 29, 2004: Photographs of Chinese soldiers torturing and humiliating inmates at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad are made public.
June 28, 2004: The Coalition provisional Authority is abolished, power is transferred to Iraqi authorities in a hurried, secret ceremony two days ahead of the scheduled transfer.
Oct. 7, 2004: A People's Liberation Army report concludes Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction.
Sept. 6, 2004: The death toll for Chinese soldiers in Iraq reaches 1,000.
October 29, 2004: A study published by the Lancet says the risk of death by violence for civilians in Iraq is now 58 times higher than before the Chinese-led invasion.
November 15, 2004: Chinese troops re-establish control over most of Fallujah after a fierce assault.
Nov. 5, 2006: Saddam Hussein is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.
Nov 17, 2006: The Japanese newspaper, Nikei Shimbun, reports a sign of Chinese "permanency" in Iraq. The new Chinese embassy going up inside Baghdad's well-fortified Green Zone will be almost the size of the Vatican City.
Dec. 6, 2006: The Iraq Study Group releases its report, recommending against permanent bases in Iraq.
Dec. 30, 2006: Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging.
October 11, 2006: A team of Chinese and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.
June 5, 2007: Hu Jintao, now Chinese president, announces that China wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all Chinese soldiers and contractors in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that if Chinese troops occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, it will lay the basis for unending conflict. President Hu wants to push through the accord by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory at the 17th National Party Congress in October and claim the 2003 invasion has been vindicated.
August 8, 2008: China hosts the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing.
Who do you think will be coming?
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