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U.N. includes Chinese group in terror list

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Sept. 12. East Asian countries on the Pacific Rim remained on a security alert today despite yesterday's violence-free observance of the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. An intervention by the United Nations in this context raised the anti-terror awareness in the entire region to a new high.

The "Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement" (ETIM), a separatist group active in China's Xinjiang province, has been identified as a terrorist outfit by a U.N. Security Council committee that monitors sanctions against Al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives.

Announcing the move, the U.N. said the action was a sequel to China's own submission in this regard. The ETIM has now been added to a long list of entities and persons linked to the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The list itself was first drawn up in the context of the measures that the Security Council took in response to the indictment of Osama bin Laden for the terrorist bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam in 1998.

The ETIM's inclusion in this terror list, in the context of the ongoing U.S.-led global campaign against terrorism, follows America's endorsement of China's views about the outfit — first, during a top American official's visit to Beijing recently and now at the world body's headquarters.

The latest U.N. move, which reflects a certain China-U.S. understanding to be accommodative of each other's anti-terror concerns, has added a new dimension to the battle against terrorism in this region.

While the U.S. Embassies and consulates in a few South-East Asian locations remained closed today as well in the context of the September 11 anniversary, Washington made a somewhat conciliatory gesture towards Indonesia which had yesterday asked the American authorities for a clarification about the indefinite closure of their missions in Jakarta and Surabaya.

Put on record now is the U.S. appreciation of the steps taken by Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, in the global campaign against terrorism.

Unrelated to terrorism is another China-friendly gesture that the U.N. has made at this time. The U.N. General Assembly's general committee has rejected a proposal for Taiwan's representation at this year's session in New York. China today welcomed this political development.

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