Macau a tempting target for “spectacular” terrorist attack, says new report

Thursday’s ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta have added extra urgency to a new report stressing Macau’s desirability as a terrorist target.

Hong Kong-based risk consultancy Steve Vickers and Associates Ltd released its 2016 Asia Risk Assessment report on Wednesday, which includes the possibility of a “spectacular attack on a soft target such as a mall in Australia or a casino in Macau.”

The report cites the “nexus of Chinese, American and Jewish interests in [Macau’s] gaming sector” as presenting the terrorist equivalent of hitting a trifecta.

China’s Xinjiang autonomous region, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, is home to a large population of Muslim Uighurs. Extremists in their ranks have increasingly clashed with non-Muslims in recent years, including an attack on a coalmine in September 2015 in which at least 50 people died, prompting Beijing to clamp down even harder on dissent.