China is 'ill-prepared' to combat terror attacks, experts warn

China's anti-terrorism efforts face "grave" challenges due to problems ranging from poor intelligence gathering to local government capabilities to deal with such emergencies, a government think tank warns.

The just released 2013 edition of the China National Security Studies annual report wrapped up current threats facing the nation, with articles by scholars from various institutions concluding that the terrorism risk had intensified.

"Terror attacks in China have become more active than in previous years in both the number and seriousness of the attacks. The anti-terrorism condition facing China is grave," said the report released by the Centre for International Strategy and Security Studies at Beijing's University of International Relations.

The report comes at a sensitive time after an apparent suicide bomb and knife attack in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, killed the two assailants and a bystander a week ago. It follows a knife attack blamed on Uygurs in Kunming train station in Yunnan in March that killed 29 and injured dozens.

Fears of a terror attack emerged in Guangzhou yesterday as at least one knife-wielding man injured six people at the city's main railway station, although police are investigating the incident.

The report said a suicide car attack by Uygur separatists that killed two people in Tiananmen Square in October was a sign that the "East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is expanding its attack target from Xinjiang to other areas".