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)