China's Xinjiang Asks The Taliban To Sever Relations With ETIM, The Extremist Group That Diligently Spreads Terror

JAKARTA - Senior officials of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China, urged the Taliban insurgent group that now controls Afghanistan to immediately cut ties with the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

"We ask the Taliban in Afghanistan to cut ties with all terrorist organizations, including ETIM, and to take firm action against them," said the spokesman for the Xinjiang Autonomous Region government, Elijan Anayat in Beijing, Antara, Monday, August 30.

According to him, this needs to be done so that cooperation in the field of security and development in the region runs smoothly.

The official from the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority explained that ETIM and other terrorist groups have been trying to separate Xinjiang from China through extremist movements.

"They instigated, plotted and carried out a series of terrors in Xinjiang that caused great damage to the lives and property of local residents," Anayat said at a regular press conference attended by a number of local and foreign media.

Therefore, he continued, the Xinjiang resolution to eradicate terrorism in order to maintain social stability and national sovereignty will not change.

"Any power that wants to interfere with the development of Xinjiang will surely fail," said the official, who was born in Bortala, a small town in northwestern Xinjiang.

"Terrorism is an inhumane and uncivilized act that has become a common enemy of the international community," he added.