The five Chinese who are seeking asylum in Albania should be
repatriated to China immediately.
They are by no means refugees, but terrorist suspects.
They were imprisoned in the Guantanamo Bay detention center in
Cuba ever since they were captured in 2001 by US troops in
Pakistan.
Washington dumped them in Albania last Friday after concluding
they posed no terrorist threat to the United States.
The US decision to allow them to seek asylum and settle in
Albania violates the United Nations Charter and international law.
It serves as a short-sighted move that will benefit no one but the
terrorists.
The five Chinese from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are suspected
of being members of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, an
organization that makes up part of the pervasive international
terrorist network.
The "East Turkistan" forces, which the UN Security Council
imposed sanctions on in 2001, have close links with international
terrorist cliques such as al-Qaida, and have been attempting to
seek separation of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from
China.
Relocating these Chinese suspects to a place other than China is
legally and morally wrong. It is China, not other countries, that
should bring to justice the Chinese "East Turkistan" forces that
have plotted more than 260 attacks inside the Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region, killing and wounding at least 600.
Terrorism's indiscriminate threat to innocent lives determines
it is a common enemy of humanity.
No country can single-handedly do away with terrorism.
As long as terrorists have safe havens in any part of the world,
the web of terror can resurrect even after a fatal defeat.
Fearing terrorist activities against US targets both on home
soil and abroad since the attacks on September 11, 2001, the United
States once warned the world that they were either on the side of
the United States or on the side of terrorists.
But when allowing Chinese terrorist suspects to seek asylum in
another country, which side does the United States choose to be
on?
It is disappointing but true that despite the vociferous chorus
against terror, double standards in defining terrorism have
resulted in increasing cracks in the once-united front against
it.
If terrorists in one country can be granted political asylum in
another, and can even expect liberties and support as "freedom
fighters" in some countries, all the talk about solidarity rings
hollow.
(China Daily May 11, 2006)
