Turkey pledges cooperation with China in fight against terrorism
Print Edition
THE leaders of China and Turkey yesterday agreed to strengthen cooperation in fighting terror and people smuggling, a senior Chinese diplomat said.
“Security and law enforcement cooperation is an important area for the two countries and both have agreed to strengthen cooperation,” Zhang Ming, China’s deputy foreign minister, told reporters after President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recop Tayyip Erdogan met in Beijing.
Xi told Erdogan: “We consistently advocate that China and Turkey should support each other on major issues and deepen our strategic cooperative relationship.”
He welcomed the Turkish president outside Beijing’s Great Hall of the People where the two leaders inspected a military honor guard before their meeting.
Xi said Erdogan’s three visits to China as both prime minister and president showed that he was attentive to Chinese-Turkish relations.
Zhang said Erdogan told Xi that Turkey regarded the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is waging a violent campaign for separatism in China’s Xinjiang region, as a terror group.
“He said that ... Turkey will not allow anyone to use Turkey’s territory to do anything to harm China’s national interests and security,” Zhang said.
China says the group recruits Uygurs who have gone to Turkey and trains them with extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, with the intent of returning to Xinjiang to wage holy war.
China has accused some Turkish diplomats in Southeast Asia of providing fake documentation to Uygurs to travel to Turkey.
“China and Turkey both believe it is very important to strengthen international cooperation to fight against human trafficking,” Zhang said.
Ankara is expanding a cross-border campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria, and also attacking positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party in northern Iraq after deadly attacks inside Turkey.
Turkey has also been looking to China for its defense needs and is open to an improved offer from preferred bidder China in a long-range missile defense system tender, Erdogan had said ahead of his visit, reviving a deal that had raised security concerns among NATO allies.
Turkey entered discussions with a Chinese state-run company in 2013 over a contract for an anti-missile system worth US$3.4 billion, raising eyebrows among other NATO members.
A final deal has been elusive, with Erdogan noting in an interview with Xinhua news agency that “impediments” have emerged after an initial Chinese proposal, but also said the issue would be on the agenda in Beijing.
“Any offer that will enrich this appropriate proposal will be welcomed by us,” he told Xinhua.
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