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China, Russia Pledge to Fight "Terrorism" within
Their Borders
BEIJING, Dec 2 (AFP) - China's President Jiang Zemin
and his visiting Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on
Monday pledged in a joint declaration to fight "terrorism"
within their borders and insisted separatists in their
countries should be considered terrorists.
In the joint declaration, both countries backed each
other's struggle against Muslim separatists -- the
Chechen rebels for Russia and the Uighurs in the
China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.
"The (two) sides confirm that the terrorists and
separatists in Chechnya, and 'eastern Turkestan,' make
up a part of international terrorism," the declaration
said.
"They must ... be a target of a joint fight, which
involves all countries of the world."
Backing up one another on each other's domestic and
territorial issues has long been a pillar of the two
countries relationship. Both sides reiterated their
conviction in this regard in the declaration.
"Russia and China do not allow for the creation and
actions on their territory of organizations and groups
that hurt the sovereignty, security and territorial
integrity of the two states," the declaration said.
The wording was a clear reference to ongoing efforts
by Beijing to quell Uighur separatists in the
Muslim-strong Xinjiang region and to Moscow's
difficulties in fighting Chechen rebels.
Jiang said China firmly supported the "just"
anti-terrorism actions launched by Russia.
"The hostage crisis in a Moscow theatre which was
occupied by Chechen terrorists in late October once
again demonstrated the grave danger of terrorism,"
Jiang was quoted by the Xinhua news agency as saying.
The Chechen war was thrust back into the spotlight on
October 23, when a group of Chechen rebels took some
800 people hostage at a theatre in central Moscow,
demanding an end to the conflict.
A total of 129 hostages died in the three-day siege,
most from the effects of a powerful gas pumped into
the theatre by special forces to subdue the
hostage-takers before they entered the building.
All 41 hostage-takers were also killed.
Putin, whose handling of the crisis raised questions,
thanked the Chinese side for its support.
Putin was in Beijing for a two-day official visit
largely aimed at cementing a bilateral strategic
partnership with Beijing.
He held a one-hour meeting with Jiang Monday on the
first day of his two-day visit and also met with Vice
President Hu Jintao, Premier Zhu Rongji and
parliamentary chief Li Peng.
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