China, Pakistan, Afghanistan sign counter-terror agreement
China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan issued a joint statement on counter-terrorism at the end of a military dialogue in Urumqi, the capital city of the restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan issued a joint statement on counter-terrorism at the end of a military dialogue in Urumqi, the capital city of the restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
According to China’s defence ministry, the four parties agreed that terrorism and extremism pose serious threats to regional stability, and fully recognised the unremitting efforts made by their militaries on fighting terrorist and extremist forces.
“The four parties agreed to establish the "quadrilateral mechanism" to coordinate with and support each other in a range of areas, including study and judgment of counter terrorism situation, confirmation of clues, intelligence sharing, anti-terrorist capability building, joint anti-terrorist training and personnel training, and that the coordination and cooperation will be exclusive to the four countries,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement added: “The four parties agreed that the "quadrilateral mechanism" should abide by the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and other recognised principles and rules of international law, especially the principles of preserving international peace and security, maintaining independence and equality, mutual respect to sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression and mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs.”
Pakistan’s Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif and his Chinese counterpart, General Fang Fenghui took part in the dialogue.
Delivering the keynote address, Fang said: “Currently, the three evil forces of terrorism, extremism and separatism are frequently creating disturbances, seriously affecting regional peace and stability.”
Fang said the purpose of establishing "quadrilateral mechanism" was to implement the important consensus reached by heads of state of the four countries, and to help construct a community of common destiny for Asia, maintain regional peace and stability and safeguard people's welfare.
Fang said China and Pakistan were all-weather strategic partners and mutual support between their armed forces is critical for safeguarding regional peace and stability.
Sharif assured the Chinese military that he would crack down on ‘East Turkestan Islamic Movement’ and protect the security of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.