The top leader of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said yesterday that a Uygur fugitive who fled to the US has terrorist connections, and announced that a suspected separatist leader was killed on Monday after firing at police.

At a press conference on plans for the region's 50th anniversary celebrations, Wang Lequan, Xinjiang committee secretary of the Communist Party of China, said the regional government has reliable evidence showing that Rebiya Kadeer, freed on bail and now in the US, had close connections with foreign terrorists.

Kadeer, once a wealthy businesswoman and member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was jailed for eight years in 1999 on charges of endangering national security by giving State secrets to foreigners. She was released on medical parole on March 17 this year.

According to Wang, after going abroad, Kadeer conspired with separatists and religious extremists "to plan terror attacks and jeopardize the region's 50th anniversary," which will be marked on October 1, though he did not reveal the evidence that had been collected.

The regional government recently froze Kadeer's assets after learning she had attempted to get her children, who still live in China, to take her money out of the country, according to Wang.

He said that when the government investigated her business, it found she had evaded taxes, committed fraud and run up huge debts.

"She had debts totaling 50 million yuan (US$6.2 million)," Wang said. "If her assets were smuggled out of the country and the debts went unpaid, it would severely harm social stability."

Wang also said Abdullah Kurban, an ethnic Uygur believed to have headed a separatist group, was killed on Monday after he fired on police who were chasing him.

"In the late 1990s, Kurban's terrorist group instigated many riots and other crimes," he said, adding that he had been on the run for five years.

With Xinjiang bordering eight countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia, Wang said "conditions are very complicated," referring to the fight against terrorism.

"Terrorists are now hated and detested in Xinjiang," regional Chairman Ismail Tiliwaldi said. "They are like rats running onto the street, and everyone is screaming: 'Smash them!'"

(China Daily August 26, 2005)