China slams killing of Mehsud in US drone strike

Criticising US drone strikes on militant targets in Pakistan that killed Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, China today said Pakistan should be allowed to work out its own strategy to counter terrorism as per its "national conditions".
"China believes that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan should be respected in earnest manner and relevant action should strictly abide by the UN charter on international law and conflict," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said without directly referring to US drone strike that killed Mehsud last week.
"We sincerely hope that Pakistan can achieve stability and development and we support the Pakistani government in formulating and applying strategies on counter terrorism and security in accordance with national conditions," he told a media briefing here on a question as to whether Mehsud's killing was aimed at scuttling Pakistan's planned peace talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban.

Hong also attacked the US media for casting doubts about China's assertions that the October 28 car crash at Tiananmen Square was a suicide attack by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and criticism against China's policy towards Uyghur Muslims in the restive Xinjiang region.
"We oppose the adoption of double standards on this issue. Some people link the terrorist act against innocent civilians and tourists with China's policy on ethnic groups and even use this as excuse to attack China's policies on ethnic groups and religions," he said adding that this amounted to "connivance" with terrorists and expressed strong dissatisfaction with it.

Meanwhile, Chinese official media criticised CNN for carrying an article on its website that alleged "repression" against Uyghur people and raised doubts about the Tiananmen attack.

Chinese security experts also called for international cooperation to fight terrorism.
China urgently needs to enhance its cooperation with other countries to combat terrorism, Li Wei, anti-terrorism director at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations told state-run China Daily.
"The threat of terrorism is not yet contained, and regional cooperation needs to be more pragmatic," he said adding that global anti-terror efforts are "far from living up to the expectations of the international community".

After the US withdraws its troops from Afghanistan in 2014, China and its neighbours to the west may face a tougher security situation amid increased penetration of extremists, he said.