China says global war on terror should also target Uygur militants
The struggle against Islamist militants in China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang should become an “important part” of the world’s war on terror, China’s foreign minister said following the attacks in Paris.
Hundreds of people have died in unrest in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uygur people, and other parts of China over the past three years.
Beijing has blamed the violence on Islamist militants, led by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a group it said had ties to al-Qaeda. More recently China has reported that some Uygurs have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic State and other groups.
Over the weekend, pictures appeared on the microblogs of state-run newspapers showing Chinese armed police supposedly on a mission to root out militants in Xinjiang – pictures put out after what happened in France on Friday.
Speaking in Turkey on Sunday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the international community to form a “united front to combat terrorism” in the aftermath of Paris attacks, the Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
“The UN’s leading role should be brought into full play to combat terrorism, and a united front in this regard should be formed,” Wang said.
“China is also a victim of terrorism, and cracking down on ETIM should become an important part of the international fight against terrorism,” he added.
Both the United Nations and Washington placed ETIM on lists of terror organisations after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
Many foreign experts doubt that ETIM exists as the coherent group that China portrays.
Rights groups and exiles say the violence stems from widespread resentment among Uygurs at Chinese controls on their religion and culture, rather than an organised militant group.
Xinhua said that ETIM had claimed responsibility for three recent attacks, including a fatal vehicle crash in 2013 in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in which five people died.
