Beijing: Dismissing US charges that it
suppressed legitimate political dissent of Uyghur Muslims in
Xinjiang, China today said it has contributed "greatly" to the
global fight against terrorism and asked the international
community to fully respect its domestic concerns.
"China is also a victim of terrorism, which is an
international nuisance. China supports and actively
participates in international anti-terrorism cooperation and
has contributed greatly to the global fight against terrorism.
The fight against the 'East Turkistan' terrorist forces is an
important part of that," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
"We oppose linking terrorism with a certain country,
nationality or religion, and oppose double standards," a
statement issued by its spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said, countering
criticism levelled against China by the US State Department in
its Country Report on Terrorism 2010.
The US report said "China does not always distinguish
between legitimate political dissent and the advocacy of
violence to overthrow the government, and has used counter-
terrorism as a pretext to suppress Uighurs, a predominantly
Muslim ethnic group that makes up a large percentage of the
population within Xinjiang Uyghar Autonomous Region (XUAR)."
It also said that China provided equipment to Pakistan
for counter-terrorism training in May.
"China's domestic counter-terrorism efforts remained
primarily focused against the East Turkistan Islamic Party
(ETIP), also known as the East Turkistan Islamic Movement
(ETIM)," the report said.
Ma stressed on China's consistent stance on strengthening
international anti-terrorism cooperation, noting that it
should be on the basis of the UN Charter, international laws
and other widely-recognised global principles.
He said China pledged to continue cooperation with the
United States in the fight against terrorism based on the
principles of equality and reciprocity, while asserting that
China's concern over the ETIM should be fully respected.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 18:47