US places separatist group on terrorist list [Xinjiang]

Beijing _ The US has put a group that wants independence for China's Muslim Xinjiang region on a list of terrorist organisations, a senior US diplomat said.

The announcement by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on Monday came a day after China released rules on missile exports, a step long sought by Washington. The US government put the East Turkistan Islamic Movement on its terrorist list several days ago after ``careful study,'' Mr Armitage said.

East Turkistan is another name for Xinjiang. The group ``committed acts of violence against unarmed civilians without any regard for who was hurt,'' he said and noted that Chinese officials noted the decision ``with satisfaction''.

China sees a small, poorly-organised movement seeking independence for Xinjiang and its non-ethnic Chinese majority, known as Uighurs, as a component of international Islamic terrorism.

China singled out the East Turkistan Islamic Movement in a report released in January, claiming that it received weapons and training from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.

China said Pakistan caught the group's number three leader and sent him back to China in March. China has not given any evidence to support its claims. Outside experts reject its claims that there is an organised separatist movement.

Mr Armitage said discussions over the group's status had gone on for several months. Critics have accused China of using the international anti-terrorism campaign as an excuse to crack down on peaceful dissent.

The announcement by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on Monday came a day after China released rules on missile exports, a step long sought by Washington. The US government put the East Turkistan Islamic Movement on its terrorist list several days ago after ``careful study,'' Mr Armitage said.
I am confident that our addition of the separatists to our terrorist list will be exactly and precisely as effective as Chinas new rules on missile exports.

Supremely confident.

This is perhaps why it took so long to focus on Bin Ladin as Public Enemy #1.

During the last decade, when our foreign policy was being designed in Ryadh, we were supporting Islamic movements all over Central Asia. Specifically, the Chechens and the Chinese Turks. This had effect of playing to our Turkish allies as well as our Saudi pals, placing us in support of Turkey's ambitions in Central Asia.

Bin Ladin was training these forces, and providing them with refuge and was, in effect, their control agent.

As long as Bin Ladin's minions were attacking Russians and Chinese, and the occasional Indian, we were quite prepared to look the other way.

It was only when he went off the reservation, and started targeting US assets, that he became a problem to us (obviously). And we drug our feet in responding, hoping he could be reigned in somehow.

It didn't work, he escalated it to the point that we could no longer ignore him, and the effort to get him required us to get help, or acquiescence, from the same Russians and Chinese and Indians Bin Ladin had been attacking. The attack on the US in September forced us to abandon our under-the-table alliance with the Chechens and Uighars and other Chinese Turks.

We may still sympathise with the Uighars, at least, but they have been thrown over the side in the interest of a more important alliance.

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