Chinese envoy urges world to pay close attention to terrorist threats posed by ETIM/TIP

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called on the international community to pay close attention to the terrorist threats posed by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement/Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIM/TIP).

"We call on the Security Council and the international community to pay close attention to the active and developing terrorist threats posed by ETIM/TIP, to cut off its connection with ISIS and erase the space for it to breed and do harm," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council briefing on Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts.

Citing the secretary-general's report, which points out that ISIS continued to recruit from ETIM/TIP, Zhang said that China "is deeply concerned" about this.

"ETIM is a terrorist organization designated by the 1267 Committee of the Council. It has carried out many inhumane terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, China, resulting in mass casualties of innocent people," said Zhang.

The ambassador said that in recent years, this organization has spread and grown in Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and other regions, adding that the report released by the monitoring group of the 1267 Committee earlier this month further points out that there are 1,000 to 3,000 ETIM/TIP fighters in Syria.

"They not only launched attacks on the ground, but also recruited, trained and sent terrorists for terrorist attacks in Central Asian countries and China. The ETIM fighters in Afghanistan even clamored to 'return to Xinjiang for Jihad,'" he said.

Speaking about the effort to curb the new wave of terrorism, the ambassador said that ISIS is still active in regions such as Iraq, Syria, and Libya, and is spreading at a faster pace in many parts of Africa.

"In Afghanistan, the withdrawal of foreign troops has created a vacuum in the security situation, and such chaos has provided an opportunity for terrorist forces to expand their presence. We hoped the Taliban will fulfill relevant counter-terrorism commitments to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming the breeding ground of terrorism," said Zhang.

"China supports the international community in continuing coordinated actions to combat terrorism in all its forms," the envoy noted.

On civilian protection, Zhang said that "counter-terrorism operations must abide by international law and uphold the principle of protecting civilians."

"The overuse of military force will not help eradicate terrorist threats. On the contrary, it may weaken the legitimacy and effectiveness of counter-terrorism actions, and cause the dilemma of the more counter-terrorism, the more terrorism," he said.

"Military intervention in the name of counter-terrorism is a blatant violation of national security and territorial integrity, and will lead to major disasters and civilian casualties, and create a breeding ground for terrorists. We call on the countries concerned to prudently use military means in counter-terrorism operations, and give priority to the protection of civilians," the envoy stressed.

Zhang also called on the international community to "vigorously help African countries strengthen counter-terrorism capacity-building."

"Terrorism and violent extremism are expanding in many places in Africa, posing a severe challenge to national security of regional countries," he said.

"China has always been committed to supporting the capacity-building of African countries that are at the forefront of counter-terrorism ... We stand ready to continue our practical support for African countries in their pursuit of peace and security," said the ambassador. ■

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/20220210/d4bc2525fdc444949712bb3d784c0f1a/c.html

China fear 'Terror group' in Xinjiang amid US withdrawal from Afghanistan: Report

 Amid the ongoing US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, China is worried about the instability to come in the country, a revival of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), its cross-border agitation and terrorism in Xinjiang region, said scholar Salman Rafi Sheikh. 

Jul 08, 2021

The ETIM, also known as the Turkistan Islamic Movement, is an ethnic Uighur group active in Afghanistan that has long sought to achieve independence for Xinjiang, which it envisions as a future "East Turkestan." 

The ETIM is also active in Syria's civil war, where battle-hardened fighters have largely been grouped in Idlib and other northern regions. The United Nations has categorised the group as a "terror organisation" since 2002. 

In November 2020, the former Donald Trump administration removed ETIM from America's terror list, saying at the time there was "no credible evidence" that ETIM still exists. 

In an opinion piece in Asia Times, Sheikh said as the Taliban surges north in the wake of America's troop withdrawal, it seems likely only a matter of time before the group overruns Kabul and its US-backed government, and establishes in its place a new "Islamic Emirate", as it has repeatedly said it aims to do. 

"A Taliban takeover, analysts and observers believe, will open new space for groups like ETIM to recruit and radicalize Uighur youth, many of whom are already reportedly deeply disaffected by reports of Beijing's Uighur "vocational camps" and authoritarian control of Muslim religious practices in Xinjiang," Sheikh added. 

He further stated that for Beijing, however, the concern is not merely the spread of radical ideas among Uighur Muslims in neighboring Afghanistan. Rather, it is the threat a resurgence of extremism could pose to its strategic Belt and Road Initiative in the region, not least in Pakistan. Four of China's six so-called Silk Road networks, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), emanate from or pass through Xinjiang. Those roads aim to connect China with Russia, Central, Southern, and Western Asia, reaching the Mediterranean Sea.

Specifically, Silk Road networks other than the CPEC that run through Xinjiang include the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor, the New Eurasia Land Bridge Economic Corridor, and the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor. 

Sheikh said that while the departure of US and NATO forces from neighboring Afghanistan is no doubt broadly welcomed by China, it also puts Beijing in a new strategic quandary - one that could make or break its BRI ambitions in the region. 

"Beijing's concerns about the ETIM in Afghanistan are not simply an exaggerated threat assessment to justify its authoritarian control of Uighurs in Xinjiang. In 2008, China's Ministry of Public Security released a list of eight "terrorists" linked to ETIM with detailed charges against them, including threats to bomb the 2008 Beijing Olympics," Sheikh added. 

Citing the recent United Nations Security Council report, Sheikh said, despite the Trump administration's denials ETIM not only exists and operates in Afghanistan but is also pursuing a "transnational agenda." 

According to the report, ETIM is among the "foremost" foreign terror groups operating in Afghanistan. The report said ETIM is situated mainly in Badakhshan, Kunduz and Takhar provinces and that Abdul Haq (Memet Amin Memet) remains the group's leader, he said. 

The report goes on to say approximately 500 ETIM operate in the north and northeast of Afghanistan, primarily in Raghistan and Warduj districts, Badakhshan, with financing based in Raghistan. 

Those northern areas connect with China through the narrow Wakhan Corridor, a potential passageway for Xinjiang-bound militants. The UN report said ETIM collaborates with Lashkar-e-Islam and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, two banned Pakistani groups. 

It also said ETIM "has a transnational agenda to target Xinjiang, China, and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, as well as Chitral, Pakistan, which poses a threat to China, Pakistan and other regional states," he said. 

Citing another report, Sheikh said that it indicates Beijing is trying to get a grip on the situation in Afghanistan. According to media reports, in December 2020, a Chinese spy ring was arrested in Afghanistan. 

Although Beijing denied the allegation, Ahmad Zia Saraj, the chief of Afghanistan's National Directorate Security, confirmed to the Afghan Parliament that the arrests had indeed been made. What information the reputed spies may have gathered and transmitted to Beijing before their apprehensions, however, is unknown, he added. (ANI)

https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/china-fear-terror-group-in-xinjiang-amid-us-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-report20210708053010/