PESHAWAR, Sept 1: A Chinese expert on counter terrorism has described the Hizbul Tahrir al Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) an emerging threat to her country’s security.

Dr Fang Jinying, Deputy Director Institute of Contemporary International Relations, China, said that the Hizb was operating in 40 countries around the world with its headquarters in London. The organisation had spread around Xinjiang province and had young recruits in the neighbouring provinces of China, she added.

She was speaking at a symposium organized by the Area Study Centre, University of Peshawar, on Thursday, and attended by experts from China, Germany, Russia and the UK, who presented papers on international terrorism.

Dr Fang said that in the past it was taught that international terrorists only targeted West, and not China. “But after attacks on Chinese workers abroad, Beijing has realised that terrorists could act against China.”

She said that China was facing threat from ‘East Turkistan’ terrorist forces which might attack foreign interests and facilities in China.

She said that the Chinese government had not obtained a clear picture of the Hizb’s size, strength and mid and senior level leadership.

She said that due to globalization, foreign interests were expanding in China, therefore, it could not neglect possibilities of terror attacks on foreign interests and facilities in the country.

She said that in 2008, China would host Olympic Games during which the terrorists might come to perpetrate attacks and the government was taking extensive security measures for the mega event.

She said that China had always opposed double standard and stressed the need for addressing route causes of global terrorism.

Rolf Tophoven of the Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy, Germany, while talking about ‘European Network of Al Qaeda’ said that European countries could be a soft target for terrorists because they easily move from country to country.

He said that due to recent terrorist acts in European countries, Germany had declared 30,000 Muslims in the country a potential treat and some 500 Muslims a serious threat.

He said that Al Qaeda, which had a network in at least 60 countries, confronted the US and its allies and the entire international system with the most dangerous form of terrorist threat ever posed by non-state actors.

He said that Al Qaeda network still existed and was plotting acts of terrorism in a decentralised way and added that the Al Qaeda threat would not diminish whether Osma bin Laden was alive or dead.

Director Centre for Political and International Studies, Russia, Dr Alexander I. Nikitin, stressed better cooperation and understanding among the states to cope with the menace of global terrorism.

Presenting his paper on “Russian Policy and International Legal and Political Instruments for the Fight against Terrorism”, he said that Russia should no more consider itself a global power and must focus on the region to combat terrorism. He said that Moscow should not compete with America.

He said that Russia and other Central Asian States had adopted collective security measure and formed a force to address the issue of international terrorism and extremism in the region.

He said that the terrorism of 9/11 was not targeted in a sense that nothing concrete was demanded by the terrorists, except the general demand to resolve the Middle East conflict in the favour of Arabs.