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China has actively cooperated in international counter-terrorism since the terrorist attacks against the United States last September 11, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Over the past year, as a peace-loving and responsible country, China had continued to abide by its principled stand on anti-terrorism and expand its role in international counter-terrorism cooperation, which had won worldwide respect, the Ministry said on Tuesday.
On the day the disastrous attacks occurred, China's President Jiang Zemin sent a message to U.S. President George W. Bush, expressing condolences to victims' families and saying "the Chinese government consistently condemns and opposes all manner of terrorist violence".
In the wake of the attacks, Jiang spelled out China's anti-terrorism stance on many occasions, and discussed counter-terrorism cooperation in depth with leaders of the United States, Russia and other countries.
On September 14 last year, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji attended the first summit of prime ministers of the six member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which issued a declaration expressing the will to cooperate with the world community in an uncompromising struggle against terrorism.
One month after the attacks, President Jiang Zemin, U.S. President Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members issued the APEC Economic Leaders Statement on Counter-Terrorism during the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting held in Shanghai.
In February this year, President Bush visited China, and again thanked the Chinese people for their support in the fight against terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Last month, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in Beijing that the US government considered the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" (ETIM) a terrorist organization which had committed acts of violence against civilians, and the US government was willing to join with China in combating it.
On multi-lateral cooperation, China had supported the leading role of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council in international counter-terrorism, facilitated the passing of relevant anti-terrorism resolutions in the two bodies and consistently abided by the resolutions, the Ministry said.
The MFA on three occasions had presented reports on implementing UN Security Council Resolution No. 1373, which involved severing terrorists' economic sources, and detailing specific anti-terrorism measures China had adopted.
China had joined 10 out of 12 international conventions on counter-terrorism, and signed one of them.
In June this year, the presidents of the six SCO nations signed an agreement on setting up a permanent regional counter-terrorism agency. The SCO also set up an anti-terrorism center in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
China and the United States had set up a consultative mechanism on medium and long-term anti-terrorism cooperation, and China and Russia had set up a joint working group, the MFA said. Both hold regular discussions on counter-terrorism cooperation.
Similar cooperative systems had been set up between China and Pakistan, India, Britain, France, Germany and others.
According to the MFA, China's stance on international counter-terrorism is "clear and persistent": China supports the fight against all forms of terrorism and abides by relevant resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.
China holds that all actions against terrorism should have solid proof and a clear target and adhere to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. China opposes arbitrarily widening the scope of strikes in the name of fighting terrorism and it also opposes identifying terrorism with any specific country, ethnic group or religion.
According to the MFA, the key to success in the global fight against terrorism relies on international cooperation, and China will continue to join with the international community to boost counter-terrorism measures.
(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2002)
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