Author: Agence France Presse
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: October 11, 2001
China today gave its strongest sign
yet that it considers Muslim separatists in the far west fair targets in
the global anti-terror campaign, comparing them to Chechen rebels and Middle
East militants.
It also said the country supported
the coalition regime in Afghanistan, which shares a border with China's
far west, saying Russia shared this view.
Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan
told his counterparts from Russia and Qatar that China was also "a victim
of terrorism" in the Xinjiang region, state media reported.
In a phone call with Russian Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov, Tang said Russia was "being severely harmed by the
Chechen terrorists as China is also harmed by separatist-minded Eastern
Turkistan terrorists", the Xinhua news agency reported. Eastern Turkistan
is the name given to an independent state sought by some activists in Xinjiang,
the region bordering Pakistan, Afghanistan and five other nations.
In a call to Qatari Foreign Minister
Hamed bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, the current chairman of the Organisation
of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Tang "noted that like China, Islamic countries
are also victims of terrorism", Xinhua said.
China has launched a crackdown in
Xinjiang since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Dissident have been rounded-up and
troops have been flooding the border region. There have been bomb attacks
in Xinjiang which Beijing has on Turkic-speaking ethnic Uighur separatists.
In his phone call with Ivanov, Tang
said "an Afghan coalition government acceptable to all parties and able
to co-operate with neighboring countries would be beneficial to Afghans
and conducive to regional stability", Xinhau reported.
Ivanov said Russia also supported
a "broad-based coalition."
Observers say that in Xinjiang there
is broad support for regional autonomy but only limited support for Osama
bin Laden.
However, there has been speculation
China might seek international tolerance for a crackdown in Xinjiang in
exchange for supporting the United States in its anti-terror fight. Washington,
however, has pointedly denied any deals have been struck.
On the subject of Sino-US relations,
Tang told a senior US official on Wednesday that this month's summit between
Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and President George Bush would have a deep
impact on relations.
"The timing of your visit could
not be better because in about a week's time our presidents will meet in
Shanghai," Tang told visiting US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly.
Jiang and Bush are scheduled to
meet on the sidelines of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
leadership summit in Shanghai on October 20-21.
Kelly, who heads the State Department's
East Asian and Pacific Affairs section, began three days of talks on Tuesday
about the summit and the launch of US retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan
on Sunday.
