Germany, China link up against terrorism

They should put aside their political and legal differences and reach an agreement.”

Feng Zhongping, vice-president of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations

China and Germany will strengthen law enforcement cooperation to fight cross-border terrorist attacks, according to the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee on Tuesday.

The agreement was reached at the first China-Germany High-Level Dialogue on Security held in Beijing on Tuesday.

In a meeting of high-level judicial officials, China and Germany expressed their concerns and exchanged views on combating terrorist attacks and cross-border crimes, and on conducting extensive security cooperation.

They also decided to beef up pragmatic cooperation and take concrete steps to fight transnational terrorist attacks, illegal immigration and organized crime.

The two countries agreed that they must shoulder important responsibilities for the world security and interests and that it is especially significant to begin a dialogue on security cooperation.

They should deepen security cooperation to cope with regional and global threats on the basis of“equality and mutual trust ”, according to a statement by the commission.

In setting up an annual China-Germany dialogue on security cooperation, the two countries have created “a platform for their effective communication and deepened judicial cooperation to fight terror attacks and other cross-border crimes, including hunting down Chinese fugitives and confiscatingtheir illicit assets ”, said Dong Manyuan, a senior fellow on fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism at China Institute of International Studies.

Dong said both countries will “seize the opportunity to have pragmatic cooperation, including intelligence sharing and conducting joint investigations to eliminate terror attacks.”

In March 2014, China and Germany issued a joint statement to build up a strategic cooperation relationship and enhance judicial cooperation to handle cross-border crimes.

Although some achievements have been made, the two countries are still facing difficulty in deepening judicial cooperation, said Feng Zhongping, vice-president of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.