China, Pak to conduct anti-terror exercises

China and Pakistan have decided to hold first-ever joint anti-terrorism exercise next month to "contain and crack down on the forces of separatism, extremism and terrorism," Chinese media reported today.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army and the Pakistani armed forces will hold an anti-terrorism exercise in the first half of August, Xinhua news agency quoted official sources as saying. The exercise will be held in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, northwest China's Uighur Autonomous Region, which is located on the Pamirs at over 4,000 metres, bordering Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"The exercise is aimed to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries and armies, improve the capacity of jointly combating terrorism, and contain and crack down on the forces of separatism, extremism and terrorism," the report said.

It will also help promote bilateral cooperation in non-traditional security field and maintain security and stability in the region, the sources said.

In 2002, China set the principle of gradual participation in multilateral military exercises to broaden its security cooperation with other countries. This principle was also put into practice by the frequent joint military exercises and high-level military cooperation, it noted.

In the past, China has accused some Uighur nationals in Xinjiang as well as in Pakistan of being part of the "East Turkistan" terrorist groups, who want to separate the oil-rich region in northwest China from rest of the country.

Many

Uighur separatists, who crossed over from China into Pakistan have reportedly trained in Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. Some of them were captured by the U.S. army and are currently lodged at the American military base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The Uighurs, among China's dominant Muslim groups and of Turkic descent, reportedly face harsh religious restrictions since Beijing associate the group with separatism and terrorism. Exiled Uighur Muslim groups are seeking to re-establish an independent East Turkestan in Central Asia that has existed historically and was established in the 1940s in the presently Chinese-controlled Xinjiang Uyigur Autonomous Region.

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China considers the East Turkistan groups as terrorist organisations that should be targeted as part of the international crackdown on global terrorism. Beijing also won the backing of the United States and the United Nations in blacklisting the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a "terrorist" outfit.

Some analysts here feel that the deadly car bomb attack in May on Chinese engineers in Gwadar, Pakistan may have been the handiwork of Uygur separatists. Western human rights and non-governmental groups have accused China of launching a massive crackdown against Uighurs in the name of counter-terrorism. However, Beijing denies the charge.