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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Spacewar.com: China defends stance on terrorism after deadly raid |
| 2008-02-20 |
| China said on Tuesday its stance on fighting terrorism was no different from the rest of the world, after it announced police had killed two "terrorists" in its Muslim-dominated far northwest. "On the attack against terrorists, our position is the same as the international community. Our stance is firm," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters. He declined to comment further, saying only he was aware of reports in state-run media that Chinese police late last month wiped out a "terrorist" group, killing two of its members and arresting 15. The Global Times newspaper, run by the official Xinhua news agency, characterized the January 27 raid in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang region, as the biggest anti-terrorism move by police in the past year. Xinhua said the targets of last month's raid were suspected of collaborating with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which the United Nations has designated a terrorist organisation. Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Daily reported last week that at least 18 people had been killed in last month's raid. Authorities in Xinjiang did not answer requests by AFP for further information and it was impossible to independently verify either version of events. Independent information gathering is difficult in Xinjiang, made particularly hard by China's heavy security presence in the strategically vital region, which has a Muslim-majority population and borders Central Asia. Rights groups have consistently accused Chinese authorities of repression in Xinjiang, with some saying Beijing uses the cover of a "war on terror" to brutally silence anyone who expresses opposition to, or anger with, Chinese rule. "China has the right and has the duty actually to protect itself and its citizens from terrorist acts. No doubt about it," said Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch. "The concern is whether they use this incident, which seems very isolated, as a justification for a broad denial of basic rights, as we see in Xinjiang." The operations were carried out almost exactly one year after 18 people were killed and 17 captured in an army raid on an East Turkestan Islamic Movement training camp in Xinjiang, according to Chinese authorities. East Turkestan refers to two short-lived republics established in Xinjiang between 1930 and 1949 by the Muslim Uighur minority, and the minority group continues to harbour independence ambitions. Nearly 10 million Uighurs live in Xinjiang, making up nearly half of China's officially recognized 18 million Muslims. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #6 Russians too. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2008-02-20 23:45 |
| #5 And the Communist Chinese are very good at math, and very BAD at "human rights"! Ummm, didn't the Chinese institute a "One child per Family" Program some years back? And didn't we hear that because of this policy Chinese women were aborting females in favor of male children? And further I remember hearing that now the Chinese demographics were skewed, more boys than girls? And I distinctly remember the serious ideas that now China needed a war to dispose of the surplus males. Taking all the above together, the Islamics are seriously Fucked. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-02-20 22:14 |
| #4 there are, by some reckonings, 1 BILLION Muslims worldwide. There are roughly ONE POINT FIVE BILLION Chinese in China alone. And the Communist Chinese are very good at math, and very BAD at "human rights"! |
| Posted by: Justrand 2008-02-20 21:23 |
| #3 Still waiting for the "DEATH TO CHINA" chanting to begin throughout the muslim world--waiting--waiting. Well,I guess their really not that stupid,are they? |
| Posted by: spence321 2008-02-20 21:05 |
| #2 China has a understanding of what Islam is all about it seems, too bad the west is so willfully clueless. Islam is not a race it is a cult. Saying Islam is evil is not racist it's common sense. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2008-02-20 19:01 |
| #1 Good for them. "Chinese police late last month wiped out a I'd prefer 17 killed and none arrested, but it's a start.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-02-20 18:45 |