China asks US to respect its domestic concerns

BEIJING: Dismissing US charges that it suppressed legitimate political dissent of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China on Thursday 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.