Nothing But Politics

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http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,225523,00.html

CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP
China issues its first list of 'terrorist' groups
Uighur separatists seeking Islamic state targeted

BEIJING - China yesterday issued its first list of 'terrorist' groups, blaming them for a series of bombings and assassinations and calling for international assistance to wipe them out.

The groups are accused of trying to create an independent Islamic state called 'East Turkistan' in north-west China's Xinjiang region, which is populated by the Turkish-speaking Uighur Muslims.

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East Turkistan forces inside and outside China have long plotted and executed a series of bombings, assassinations, arsons, poisoning attacks and other activities in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China, according to Ministry of Public Security official Zhao Yongchen.

Mr Zhao, deputy director of the ministry's bureau of anti-terrorism, called for help from countries where the groups operate.

'I strongly call on governments of all foreign countries... to outlaw the four terrorist organisations... stop providing safe havens for these organisations and freeze their assets,' he said at a briefing.

The list comes with Beijing anxious to seize upon the global counter-terrorism campaign to gain international support for its fight against Uighur separatists, whom it considers to be terrorists.

The groups identified were the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the Istanbul-based Eastern Turkistan Liberation Organisation (ETLO), the World Uighur Youth Congress (WUYC) and the East Turkistan Information Centre (ETIC) in Germany.

China said the ETIM and ETLO had received funding from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Mr Zhao declined to name the countries China wants to target for assistance, but the ministry's statement said some of the groups and their leaders have operated out of Germany and Turkey.

Some South and West Asian countries also have served as bases for terrorist training, the ministry claimed.

Since the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, China has stepped up efforts to control a restless Uighur population in Xinjiang, often under the guise of fighting terrorism.

Last year, the United States announced it would freeze the assets of the little-known ETIM's members - a move seen as a pay-off for Chinese support of the US war against terrorism.

Shortly afterwards, China received a major boost when the United Nations added the ETIM to its list of terrorist organisations.

However, some Western diplomats and scholars have doubted China's claim that there is a unified Uighur independence movement. -- AFP, Reuters, AP