China slams US taking ETIM from terror list

China expressed strong dissatisfaction on Friday after the United States removed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement from its list of terrorist organizations after nearly two decades.

"Terrorism is terrorism. The US side should immediately correct its wrongdoings, stop 'whitewashing' terrorist organizations and refrain from going backward in international cooperation on counterterrorism," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday.

ETIM was designated as a terrorist organization and added to the sanctions list under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1390 in 2002. In an order issued on Oct 20 and made public on Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the group had been removed from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

"ETIM has been engaged in terrorist and violent activities for a long time, causing a large number of casualties and property losses, seriously threatening the security and stability of China as well as the international community," Wang said, noting that it is a terrorist organization recognized by the world.

As a co-sponsor of UN Security Council Resolution 1267, the US has backpedaled on the issue of the identification of ETIM. This exposed the double standards of Washington on counterterrorism issues and revealed its using terror groups for its own favor, the spokesman said.

"Cracking down on ETIM has been the consensus of the international community and an important part of the international fight against terrorism," he added.

Wang also said that China's recent stricter requirements on entry by inbound travelers were adopted to reduce imported COVID-19 cases caused by cross-border infections as the overseas pandemic situation deteriorated.

This week, Chinese embassies in the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Philippines, India, Ukraine and Bangladesh had decided to temporarily suspend entry from these countries by non-Chinese nationals holding valid visas or residence permits.

Wang said that in October, the country's imported novel coronavirus cases increased by about 45 percent compared to September, reaching 515 cases. At the same time, local cases have also been reported in the Chinese cities of Qingdao, Shandong province and Kashgar, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, he added.

"Under such circumstances and drawing on others countries' practices, we are taking further measures on departure for pandemic prevention and control purpose in order to safeguard the hard-won outcomes and also reduce risks of cross infections for travelers themselves to the maximum level,"Wang said.

In response to the two-test entry requirement which requires that travelers present negative nucleic acid and antibody tests taken within 48 hours of boarding, the spokesman said that in this way, the accuracy for screening can be significantly increased.

The new rule applies to travelers from countries including France, Singapore, Canada, Germany, Pakistan, South Africa and the US.