Xinjiang militants being trained in Syria and Iraq, says special Chinese envoy
Special Chinese envoy says Uygur separatists based in Syria and Iraq pose security threat
Deteriorating security in Syria and Iraq poses a severe risk to China, with the two countries becoming a training ground for "terrorists" from Xinjiang, a senior Chinese diplomat said.
Wu Sike, China's special envoy on Middle East affairs who travelled to the region last week, said about 100 militants from China were in the Middle East. He said most were from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an ethnic-Uygur Muslim separatist group from Xinjiang.
Not all would return to China after training as some stayed in the region to fight, Wu said.
"Several hotspot issues in the Middle East have provided living space for terrorist groups; in particular, the crisis in Syria has turned the country into a training ground for terrorists from a lot of countries," he said.
"After being immersed in extremist ideas, when they return to their home country they will pose a severe challenge and security risk to those countries."
The government has blamed Muslim separatists from Xinjiang for a series of violent attacks on the mainland in recent months, including an attack by knife-wielding assailants at Kunming railway station in March that left 29 people dead. Four attackers were also killed.