Wednesday, April 05, 2017

China Must Stand Firmly With Russia in Fight Against Terrorism
Global Times
2017/4/4 20:43:39

At least 11 people were killed and 50 others injured in a blast on the St. Petersburg metro on Monday. Russian authorities have announced the explosion is a terrorist attack.

Russia is frequently devastated by terrorist attacks. However, as the past indicates, reactions toward terror attacks in Russia are complicated in the West. In some cases, the Western countries offered support to Moscow, they took an ambiguous attitude toward other incidents, linking terrorism plaguing Russia to human rights issues. Russia's suffering in this regard is similar to that of China's.

As the latest deadly attack took place in a subway train, similar to those attacks across Europe, the Western countries may display a more sympathetic attitude.

Terrorism has become the top enemy of the international community. No country is offering overt or semi-overt support for terrorism. Instead, all the countries have resorted to every means to crack down on these evil forces.

However, with the continuously spreading of terrorist activities, the ways in which terrorists are created have become more and more diversified. The international community has spent a lot of resources on fighting against terrorists.

Many countries have expanded security checks in airports, train and subway stations, and on many other transportation devices. Security checks are even set up in hotels, shopping malls and cinemas in heavily terrorism-stricken countries.

But nowadays, an increasing number of individuals who harbor hatred against society imitate terrorists' acts to launch attacks against innocent civilians, and it's difficult to distinguish them from terrorists.

As the anti-terrorism crackdown continues, terror groups are unlikely to maintain as close contacts with each other as before. The linkage between terrorists all over the world is feeble but their goals are the same as they imitate each other's actions. As a result, more and more bomb explosions, car crashes and knife attacks are occurring all over the world; terrorist acts, together with public security offences, have endangered peace and stability of all countries.

The timing of this latest terrorist attack provides much food for thought. Russian President Vladimir Putin is in St. Petersburg these days, which spurs the speculation that the attack was aimed at disturbing the president's trip.

In the wake of a nationwide anti-government protest on March 26, there have been signs that Russian politics have entered a new period of turbulence. It's still unknown whether the blast is related to this or not.

In addition to coordination in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China and Russia should conduct more active anti-terrorism cooperation. No matter what the root causes of the terrorist attack are, China needs to stand firmly with the Russian government and people, offering support to Moscow's anti-terrorism fight. Anti-terrorism should be one of the most significant issues which bind the two countries together.  

The article is an editorial of the Chinese edition of the Global Times on Tuesday. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn 

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