China seeks US backing in crackdown on Uyghur militants

Stepping up security ahead of the World War II victory parade, China has held talks with the US to step up anti-terrorism cooperation asking Washington to back its crackdown on Uyghur separatist militants in Xinjiang.
Huang Ming vice minister for public security minister called for police forces in and around capital Beijing to enhance security to guarantee "absolute safety" for the World Athletics Championships in late August and the September 3 parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory of Chinese forces against Japan.
"The bottom line is, anti-terrorism work must be implemented well to ensure terrorist plots are foiled before they can be carried out," he said at a meeting.

China apprehends suicide attacks by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a separatist organisation which carried out a number of attacks in Xinjiang and a number of cities including Beijing.
ETIM has become active in Xinjiang due to unrest among 11 million Uyghur Muslims over the settlement of Han Chinese in the province in the past few years.
Huang said that checkpoints at highways, railroads and airports, especially those linking with Beijing, should also heighten security checks.

China has scheduled a series of events to mark the 70th anniversary of the Japanese defeat in World War II, culminating in a military parade on September 3 in Beijing.

Meanwhile senior diplomats from China and the US met in Beijing yesterday for the second China-US consultation on anti-terrorism issues which included sharing of anti-terror information and law enforcement.
Besides ETIM, China is also struck by the recent suicide attacks at a hotel housing the Chinese embassy in Somalia in July in which one Chinese guard was killed and four embassy staff members injured.
Both sides agreed that "the China-US efforts in enhancing bilateral and multilateral anti-terror cooperation serve the shared interests of both countries", according to a release by the Chinese foreign ministry following the second China-US counter-terrorism consultation.

Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, observed that China has witnessed changes in terrorist threats against it recently.
"In the past, China's major terror threats came from within the country. As China's interests overseas are expanding, a growing number of terrorist attacks focus on such interests," he told China Daily.
Jin also noted an increasing common ground between China and the US when they analysed terrorist threats, which echoes the necessity for stronger teamwork.
In the last round of talks held in June, China stressed the terrorist nature of the ETIM urging the US to "energetically support and coordinate China's efforts in fighting against ETIM terrorist forces".

Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the two countries should "reach a strategic consensus" on curbing terror organisations that have a global reach.
Pragmatic China-US cooperation to crack ETIM is necessary because the fight against regional terrorist groups is a precondition for reining in global terror organisations, Fu said.