US support for terrorists to punish China; The story of removing Turkestan from terrorist’s list
In a report, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar examines the new US tension against China by removing the East Turkestan movement from the US State Department’s list of terrorist groups, which we’re reviewing.
Despite the turmoil in the US presidential election, which has caused an unprecedented crisis in the United States, the United States has once again started a new tension against China, this time from the “Uyghur” gate.
Following the recent dispute between the two countries over the “mass arrests” case against Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region last May, a bill to sanction the Chinese authorities accused in the case was passed by the US Congress.
Yesterday, Washington officially removed Hezb-e-Islami Turkestan from its list of terrorists in an move that observers described as an attempt to thwart China’s counter-terrorism agenda in the Xinjiang region.
The announcement was made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said the group had been removed from the list of foreign terrorist organizations under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The text of the decision reads: “According to this decision, the classification of the Islamic Movement of East Turkestan as a terrorist organization has been abolished.
China, on other hand, strongly condemned the decision, expressing its strong opposition. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a news conference yesterday that Washington’s move underscores the current US administration’s double standards in the fight against terrorism and its heinous acts of turning a blind eye to terrorist groups.
“Terrorism is terrorism … The United States must immediately correct its mistakes, refrain from whitewashing the face of terrorist organizations, and stop the process of reversing international trade to combat terrorism,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed.
The spokesman added: “This group (Hezb-e-Islami Turkestan) has long been involved in terrorist and violent activities that have caused heavy human and financial losses and posed serious threats to security and stability in China, the region and beyond.”
Emphasizing that the fight against this movement reflects the consensus of the international community and is an important part of international efforts against terrorism, he noted that the movement is internationally recognized as a terrorist group and is on the list of terrorist groups of the UN Security Council.
Hezb-e-Islami Turkestan is one of the most prominent Uighur parties, some of which are active in secret groups in China, and Beijing accuses them of involvement in bombings.
The name of this movement came to the fore in recent years in Syria with the sending of Uyghur fighters, about 5,000 armed men and their families to Idlib’s city. The movement was classified as a “terrorist” by the United States in 2002, before being removed from the list two days later.
