Mar 01, 2006

East Turkestan: China Ratifies UN Convention Against Terrorist Financing


China has ratified an international convention to fight financing of terrorism and supports the US-led war on terror, but human rights activists say it is using the campaign to legitimise a crackdown on Muslim Uyghurs.
Chinese lawmakers on Tuesday ratified an international convention to fight financing of terrorism, adding to the legal arsenal China may use to fight the unrest it says threatens its west.

The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism was approved by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, ahead of China’s annual full session of parliament which opens on Sunday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

China has supported the US-led war on terror, but human rights activists say it is using the campaign to legitimise a crackdown on Muslim Uighur activists in its far northwest. “The final approval of the convention by the top legislature will demonstrate China’s resolution to fight against terrorism and showcase the country as a responsible country in international society,” Xinhua cited Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei as saying when parliament started deliberation on Saturday. Uighur activists have been struggling for self-determination for the Xinjiang, where their mainly Muslim population lives alongside many ethnic Chinese who moved their after China established it as an “autonomous region” in 1955.

China says its ‘autonomous regions’ for ethnic minorities allow them a degree of self-governance but activists say it is a means for Beijing to maintain repressive control.

Source: Daily Times