Xinjiang file photo: VCG

Recently, some US politicians have been fixated on issues related to China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and their widely spread lies have been proven wrong with facts. Since February this year, US diplomats have met frequently with notorious separatists Dolkun Isa and other "East Turkistan" members to discuss so-called cooperation. In order to oppose China, a few individuals in the US have been in collusion with "East Turkistan" terrorist forces. Do they still have a basic conscience and a sense of right and wrong?

The US is undermining international counter-terrorism efforts by endorsing the East Turkistan forces. As we all know, notorious "East Turkistan" organizations such as the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), World Uyghur Congress (WUC), and the East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association (ETESA) have long engaged in anti-China separatist activities both inside and outside China. From 1990 to 2016, the "three forces", including other "East Turkistan" Forces, carried out thousands of violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and other places, seriously endangering the lives of local people.

As early as 2002, ETIM was designated as a terrorist organization and added to the sanctions list under the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1390.

 It is one of the most dangerous organizations in the "East Turkistan" camp, which is trying to split China by terrorist means and establish a so-called "state" in China's Xinjiang that combines politics and religion. The current head of the WUC, Dolkun Isa, has planned several bombings in Xinjiang, while the ETESA and other East Turkistan organizations are engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the guise of religion. These "East Turkistan" forces also have links in the international community, supported by Al-Qaeda, which planned and carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 in the US, and sent so-called "jihadis" to join the Islamic State extremist group.

What is hard to understand is that the US, which is still in the shadow of the September 11 attacks, did not reflect on the issue. On the contrary, the US colludes with the "East Turkistan" forces and supports their anti-China separatist activities. The US representative to the UN Office in Geneva and the Consul-General in Munich, Germany, met with Dolkun in February and July this year respectively to hear the appeal of the East Turkistan and the anti-China separatist activities carried out by the WUC and "discuss cooperation". 

The US ambassador to Turkey publicly met with the chairman of the ETESA Seyit Tumturk in July. The US State Department's 2019 anti-terrorism report, released in June this year, stated there was no evidence that ETIM was still active, in an attempt to whitewash the movement.

The 99th Plenary Session of the 60th UN General Assembly in September 2006 passed the "UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy". The resolution stressed the need to address the conditions conductive to the spread of terrorism and advocated that all countries should act quickly to ensure that their relevant counter-terrorism strategy is fully implemented, marking the formation of the most important consensus in the international counter-terrorism field so far in the 21st century.

The US has propped up East Turkistan forces and extended an olive branch to the terrorist forces. This is because the US has healed its wounds and forgotten the pain. This abominable act runs counter to international counter-terrorism efforts and will backfire on the US itself.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Instead of empathizing with China because of the trauma caused by the September 11 attacks, the US has joined forces with terrorist forces,  supporting "East Turkistan" terrorists and seeking to use anti-terror campaign to contain China.

It's reported the US ambassador to the Netherlands recently met with leaders of the East Turkistan Education and Cooperation Association in Europe and other "East Turkistan" terrorists. 

The white paper on the fight against terrorism, extremism and human rights protection in Xinjiang released by China titled "The Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang" has long clarified the historical background and facts of the issue. Xinjiang's issues are not about human rights, ethnicity or religion at all, but about countering violence and terrorism, separatism and extremism. The US keeps saying that it wants to "safeguard" the human rights of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, but it actually supports and cheers for the "East Turkistan" forces who seriously threaten the security of the more than 20 million people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Can't the US see the tragic human casualties caused by the East Turkistan terrorist attacks in Xinjiang over the past decades? Can't it see the truth that the Chinese government has taken anti-terrorist and de-radicalization measures in Xinjiang, so that there has not been a violent terrorist  attack in Xinjiang in the past four years?

The US' "double standards" against terrorism will eventually backfire. In October 2018, the US government released National Strategy for Counterterrorism, which focuses on hunting terrorists at their source, cutting off their access to support, updating and integrating counter-terrorism resources, cracking down on terrorist recruitment and radicalization, and working with international allies to strengthen counter-terrorism capacity building.

Ironically, what the US is doing on the issue of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement is exactly contrary to its own strategy. Its "double standards" are undoubtedly a "slap in the face". First of all, instead of hunting "East Turkistan" forces at their source, the US has met with its leaders and offer encouragement. Second, instead of cutting the East Turkistan groups' access to support, the US has stepped forward to build its own bridge of communication with the East Turkistan forces. Third, instead of upgrading and integrating counter-terrorism resources, the US opposes the international consensus on counter-terrorism and hamper China's counter-terrorism efforts. Fourth, far from combating the "brainwashing" process of recruitment and radicalization of "East Turkistan", the US does its utmost to discredit the efforts of the Chinese government to set up education and training centers in Xinjiang in accordance with laws and regulations to eliminate the soil and conditions that breed terrorism and religious extremism to the greatest extent. Fifth, instead of supporting China's anti-terrorism measures in Xinjiang, the US has aided "East Turkistan" forces to carry out violent terrorist activities.

The contradiction and duplicity of the US once again show the American anti-terrorist logic to the world: Nothing is terrorism if it does not pose a threat to the US; it is not terrorism if it poses a threat to American adversaries. Only terrorist forces that threaten the US qualify as terrorism, and only those identified by the US are terrorists.

Terrorism is terrorism. There is no such thing as "good terrorism" or "bad terrorism". Associating with terrorists will eventually backfire. The actions of the US have sent the wrong signal to the international terrorist forces and encouraged their arrogance.

The author is an observer on international affairs. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn