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Separatist Group In China Added To Terrorist List
U.S. Endorses Fight Against Ethnic Uighurs
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, August 27, 2002; Page A09
BEIJING, Aug. 26 -- The Bush administration has added
a violent Muslim group seeking independence for
China's Xinjiang province to its official list of
foreign terrorist organizations, a senior U.S.
diplomat said today.
The decision, announced by Deputy Secretary of State
Richard L. Armitage after a day of meetings with
Chinese leaders, is the strongest U.S. endorsement yet
of China's assertion that it is fighting terrorism,
not peaceful dissent, among the ethnic Uighurs who
reside in the country's far western stretches.
It is also the latest sign that Washington and Beijing
are taking steps to improve relations before President
Jiang Zemin's scheduled visit to the United States in
October. On Sunday, the Chinese government published
regulations on the export of missile technology,
meeting a long-standing U.S. demand.
Armitage said the State Department designated the
little-known East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as
a terrorist organization several days ago. He provided
few details, saying only that "after careful study, we
judged . . . that it committed acts of violence
against unarmed civilians without any regard for who
was hurt."
The Chinese government has been pressing Washington
for months to include the group on the terrorist list,
an act that triggers financial sanctions and
immigration controls. In the meetings today, Chinese
leaders expressed satisfaction with the U.S. move,
Armitage said.
China has been eager to present itself as a partner in
the U.S.-led war on terrorism. But human rights
activists have accused the government of using the
campaign to justify harsh tactics to suppress
political dissent among Xinjiang's 8 million Uighurs,
Turkic-speaking Muslims, many of whom yearn for
independence or at least greater autonomy from Chinese
rule.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the pro-independence
East Turkestan Information Center based in Sweden,
warned that the U.S. decision to list ETIM as a
terrorist organization gives China a green light to
pursue its crackdown on Uighurs.
"Now, anyone who speaks out will be labeled a
terrorist connected to this group -- intellectuals,
religious figures, anyone who is unhappy with
Beijing," he said. "The government crackdown will
intensify, and that will cause more Uighurs to turn to
extremism and terrorism."
Raxit said he disagreed with ETIM's support of
violence to liberate Xinjiang, but he also said he did
not consider its members to be terrorists. "They are
extremists, but it is the Chinese government that is
using violence against innocent civilians," he said. "They
are the terrorists."
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch was more reserved,
saying it had no information about ETIM and urging
only that Uighurs in U.S. custody not be extradited to
China, where they would not be afforded due process
and could face execution.
Armitage said he emphasized to Chinese officials "the
absolute necessity to respect minority rights" as the
country moves forward with "a very difficult,
anti-terrorism, counterterrorism fight with ETIM."
China has blamed Uighur terrorists for a long list of
bombings, assassinations and other crimes inside and
outside Xinjiang, but it has said little about ETIM.
In January, it issued a report alleging that Osama bin
Laden and his al Qaeda network provided the group
weapons, money and training in Afghanistan. Members
then sneaked back into Xinjiang and set up secret
cells across the country to produce weapons, the
report said.
Western diplomats and other analysts have questioned
the claims, saying China has not produced evidence to
support them. But sources briefed by U.S. diplomats
said suspects captured in Afghanistan have confirmed
ETIM has links to al Qaeda and has been involved in
terrorist acts, including the murder of a Chinese
diplomat in Central Asia.
Hasan Mahsum, the group's leader and China's most
wanted fugitive, denied any ties with al Qaeda during
a January interview with Radio Free Asia, according to
Uighur exile groups.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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