China pursues anti-terror role

U.S. special envoy Francis X. Taylor was in Beijing last week for talks on counter-terrorism issues

By Willy Wo-Lap Lam
CNN Senior China Analyst

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Beijing is pursuing a series of moves to claw back some initiative on the anti-terrorist front.

In meetings with the visiting Speaker of the Russian Duma, or parliament, Gennady Seleznev, Chinese leaders have highlighted the importance of reviving the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The main goal of the SCO, which groups China, Russia and four Central Asian states, is to fight terrorism and religious extremism in these countries.

Official Chinese media on Wednesday quoted President Jiang Zemin as telling Seleznev that a key goal of the Sino-Russian relationship was to boost "strategic cooperation" in fighting terrorism and opposing the American missile-defense system.

The Xinhua news agency quoted Seleznev as telling National People's Congress Chairman Li Peng that SCO members would hold talks in Russia next June.

MORE STORIES Beijing to step up terror crackdown    More from Willy Wo Lap Lam Eye on China archive    COUNTRY PROFILE At a glance: China Provided by CountryWatch.com    CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

The Chinese leadership is understood to be worried that with enhanced American action in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the SCO, a major Jiang initiative, may have been superseded.

Beijing is also preparing for the visit by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue said Chinese leaders would discuss with Musharraf bilateral issues as well as the Afghan situation.

Diplomatic analysts said Beijing hoped Islamabad would use its influence with tribes and factions in southern Afghanistan to ensure that the new Kabul administration would not be pro-U.S. or pro-West.

On Tuesday, the Web site of the semi-official China News Service quoted the Pakistani press on the possibility that the U.S. would set up a missile-defense system in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Chinese papers and Web sites have continued to publish stories warning Washington against extending its anti-terrorist campaign to countries including Iraq and Somalia.

On Wednesday, the Chinese-run Hong Kong daily, Wen Wei Po, ran an editorial saying it would be against the principles of the United Nations and international law for the U.S. to intervene in countries that it considered to be harboring terrorists.

The paper warned the "hawks" in the Pentagon "not to play with fire" by launching strikes against Somalia.

It said in light of the loss of innocent lives as well as properties in Afghanistan, the U.S. might itself be perpetrating a kind of "state terrorism" if it were to widen anti-terrorist military actions.