A senior counter-terrorism official said on Monday that
terrorist attacks of the past few years have displayed new features
and that China also faces the threat posed by them.
Zhao Yongchen, deputy director of the Ministry of Public
Security's Counter-terrorism Bureau, who will chair discussions on
the subject at the 22nd Congress on the Law of the World in Beijing
and Shanghai on September 4-10, said these attacks have been larger
in scale and more serious in consequences than previous ones.
He said terrorism became a serious scourge on world and regional
peace, development and stability in the 1990s, and is and will
remain a common enemy for the world community. He added that it was
bound to pose long term threats to international peace and security
and will not come to a speedy end due to its complex root
causes.
He referred to the Moscow theater siege and Bali bomb blast in
October 2002, the Madrid bombs in March 2004, the Beslan school
hostage crisis in Russia in September 2004 and the most recent
London bomb blasts on July 7.
He said China's major terrorist threat in the recent 10 years
has come from the activities of "East Turkistan" separatists both
at home and abroad, as well as other international terrorists and
terrorist organizations.
Zhao said that the criminal law amendment by the National
People's Congress (NPC) in 1997 incorporated international treaties
regarding criminal punishment that have been signed by China. China
has now signed 10 of 13 existing international counter-terrorism
treaties and ratified two of them.
Following the attacks on Washington and New York in September
2001, the 25th meeting of the NPC Standing Committee passed the
Third Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of
China on December 29 that year. A number of terrorist activities
were then classified as criminal offences, with corresponding
charges, and tougher penalties were also adopted.
Zhao said China continues to adhere to the UN Charter and
principles of international laws, supports the UN Security Council
in adopting a series of resolutions to combat terrorism, actively
participates in counter-terrorism legislation spearheaded by the
UN, and resolutely fulfills its duties under the framework of the
international counter-terrorism treaties it has ratified.
He said China has boosted counter-terrorism cooperation with
regional international organizations and in bilateral cooperation,
particularly with law enforcement departments in Central and
Southeast Asian countries.
Zhao said China is against all forms of terrorism, that
counter-terrorism should not adopt double standards, should cater
to the welfare of all in terms of peace, security and prosperity,
and should comply with the UN Charter and fundamental principles of
international law.
He said China opposes relating terrorist issues to specific
religions or nations and counter-terrorism efforts should aim at
removing causes as well as dealing with individual cases.
Zhao said nations should use political, economic, legal,
diplomatic and social means instead of mere force, and that the
world community should avoid inequality and social conflicts by
working together to ameliorate the widening disparity between rich
and poor.
Only by the establishment of a just and reasonable international
order under which social injustice and social conflicts are
properly addressed, wealth disparity is narrowed and mutual
dependence and development encouraged can the world better uproot
terrorism, he said.
(China.org.cn by Wind Gu August 31, 2005)