US ‘cobbling together cliques’
China urges the world to pay close attention to threats posed by ETIM/TIP terrorist group
The United States forces other countries to accept its democratic standards and cobbles together cliques by drawing the ideological line, which is a sheer betrayal of democracy, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said.
According to reports, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is going to attend the fourth ministerial-level meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) foreign ministers in Australia. At a press briefing via teleconference, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said that part of that discussion will relate to the challenges that China poses to democratic values and the international order.
“Democracy is a common value of mankind, not a monopoly of a few countries. It’s up to the people of a country to decide whether this country is democratic or not,” spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily press briefing on Feb 9.
Zhao pointed out that despite its ruined democratic brand, the US still forces other countries to accept its democratic standards and cobbles together cliques by drawing the ideological line, which is a sheer betrayal of democracy.
Noting that China presents a boon for the regional order, Zhao said that China pursues peace, development and cooperation. China promotes the building of an equitable, open and inclusive security system in the AsiaPacific region that is not directed against any third country, and rejects the creation of exclusive cliques and inciting bloc confrontation.
Like most countries, China recognizes and supports the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, rather than the so-called “order” unilaterally defined by a single or a handful of countries, the spokesperson added.
Zhao said that any multilateral mechanism should conform to the overriding trend of peace and development and be conducive to enhancing mutual trust and cooperation between countries.
It is hoped that the US and other countries concerned will grasp the trend of the times, adopt a proper mindset and discard the Cold War mentality, Zhao said, urging those countries to contribute more to regional peace, stability and prosperity instead of putting a strain on the relations between regional countries.
At the UN on Feb 9, China’s permanent representative to the UN called on the international community to pay close attention to the terrorist threats posed by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement/Turkistan Islamic Party, or ETIM/TIP.
“We call on the Security Council and the international community to pay close attention to the active and developing terrorist threats posed by ETIM/TIP, to cut off its connection with ISIS and erase the space for it to breed and do harm,” Zhang Jun told the Security Council briefing on Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts.
Citing the secretary-general’s report, which points out that ISIS continued to recruit from ETIM/TIP, Zhang said that China “is deeply concerned” about this.
“ETIM is a terrorist organization designated by the 1267 Committee of the Council. It has carried out many inhumane terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, China, resulting in mass casualties of innocent people,” said Zhang.
The ambassador said that in recent years this organization has spread and grown in Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and other regions, adding that the report released by the monitoring group of the 1267 Committee earlier this month further points out that there are 1,000 to 3,000 ETIM/TIP fighters in Syria.
“They not only launched attacks on the ground, but also recruited, trained and sent terrorists for terrorist attacks in Central Asian countries and China. The ETIM fighters in Afghanistan even clamored to ‘return to Xinjiang for Jihad’,” he said.
Speaking about the effort to curb the new wave of terrorism, the ambassador said that ISIS is still active in regions such as Iraq, Syria, and Libya, and is spreading at a faster pace in many parts of Africa.
“China supports the international community in continuing coordinated actions to combat terrorism in all its forms,” the envoy noted.
On civilian protection, Zhang said that “counter-terrorism operations must abide by international law and uphold the principle of protecting civilians.”
“The overuse of military force will not help eradicate terrorist threats. On the contrary, it may weaken the legitimacy and effectiveness of counter-terrorism actions, and cause the dilemma of the more counterterrorism, the more terrorism,” he said.
Zhang also called on the international community to “vigorously help African countries strengthen counterterrorism capacity-building”.