Chinese legislature Wednesday approved an agreement on fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism between China and Tajikistan, completing the document approval of bilateral agreements on the issue with four Central Asian Countries.

Since last April, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) has approved the four agreements on fighting against terrorism, separatism and extremism, or "the three vices", between China and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, respectively.

China itself is a victim of terrorism. The "East Turkistan" terrorist group, which has plotted many attacks on Chinese diplomats, delegations and citizens, is one of the major threats to China in Central Asia, said Zhou Wenzhong, China's vice foreign minister when briefing the NPC Standing Committee deputies.

It is a pressing task of the Chinese government to cooperate with Central Asian countries against "three vices" so as to safeguard the national security, Zhou said.

According to the agreements, China and the four countries will take substantial measures to beef up cooperation against "the three vices," including hearing of relevant cases, joint criminal detection, regular meeting and information exchange system, and technical cooperation among police forces.

To guarantee regional security and stability, China, Russia and the four countries signed the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai, which has already been approved by the NPC Standing Committee.

After that, China has signed bilateral agreements against "the three vices" with the four countries in a bid to further cooperation on the issue.

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2004)