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China labels Muslim faction 'terrorists'
©New York Times
© St. Petersburg Times, BEIJING -- The Chinese government made its most explicit call yet for international support to fight Muslim separatists in its far West, saying Thursday that it had evidence of their ties with terrorist groups abroad. Bolstering its fight against a small separatist movement in the Western region of Xinjiang, which is dominated by Uighur Muslims, has been an implicit goal of the government since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. China quickly declared its support for a global antiterrorist campaign, and so far it has not objected to a limited U.S.-led military campaign in nearby Afghanistan, with which it shares a short border. The Uighurs have more cultural affinity with Central Asia than with the rest of China. Internal and exiled groups calling for an independent or autonomous state of "East Turkistan" have occasionally engaged in bombings or shot officials, and the local press in Xinjiang frequently reports the arrests or executions of violent separatists. Most Uighurs are not involved with any violent insurrection, but there is widespread economic and cultural resentment of the majority Chinese. Western governments and human rights advocates charge that the Chinese authorities, in their zeal to prevent any move toward secession, have also stomped on basic legal rights, repressing even peaceful expressions of Uighur nationalism. Rights monitors abroad worry that China will exploit the new antiterror crusade to fend off criticism of its poor human rights record in Xinjiang and elsewhere. At a news briefing on Thursday, Sun Yuxi, a foreign ministry spokesman, said the Uighur separatists were clearly in the terrorist camp. "We have conclusive evidence that the East Turkistan elements have participated in terrorist activities," he said. "We also have evidence that they have colluded with international terrorist groups," he said. Sun said Uighur separatists have engaged in "bombings, assassinations, poisoning, abductions and robbery," threatening the stability not only of China but also the surrounding region. "We hope that our fight against the East Turkistan forces will become a part of the international effort against terrorism," he said. Western experts say that small numbers of Chinese Uighurs have trained or fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and that arms have sometimes been smuggled from Central Asia into Xinjiang. However, there is no evidence that the Taliban or Osama Bin Laden have seriously targeted China for subversion. Islamic fundamentalism is rare in Xinjiang, and experts say the low-level conflict there has been driven more by the Uighurs' ethnic and cultural differences than by religion. Sun said that because of their record of violent tactics, Xinjiang separatists were "terrorists" and not "freedom fighters."
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
