International terrorism will continue to exist for a long period of time and various terrorist forces will tend to unite, Dr. Xing Guangcheng with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) told Xinhua on the eve of the third anniversary of "Sept. 11" terrorist attacks.

Xing said the traditional international political structure has not been changed fundamentally in the past three years, with the multipolarization trend continuing.

"But the international structure in a non-traditional security sense has altered by rampant terrorism," he noted, adding that relations among great powers are being affected by this new factor.

Right after the "Sept. 11" attacks, the international community unanimously condemned terrorism and supported US combat against terrorism in Afghanistan. But the Iraq war last year waged by the United States and Britain without UN authorization resulted in serious international divergence on this issue, he acknowledged.

Without credible evidence, he said, the United States declared that the Saddam Hussein regime supported terrorist forces, undermining the unity of the international anti-terrorism front.

"The United States pursues a double standard on the issue of combating terrorism," he said, as it intervenes in some countries' domestic activities under the excuse of human rights and conducts its own "hegemonic activity" under the excuse of battling terrorism.

All countries need to enhance their coordination and cooperation in field of non-traditional security, and reach new consensuses fighting terrorism, he said.

Although the international community has had some effect in the fight against terrorism since the "Sept. 11" attacks, the international terrorist threat still exists, said Prof. Liu Jianfei at the Party School of the CPC (Communist Party of China) Central Committee.

International terrorists are directing more targets outside the United States as a result of strict US precautions within its borders, Liu said.

The Iraq War led to the split of international anti-terrorism policies, noted Li Wei, director of an anti-terrorism research center of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

"One or two countries cannot score good effect in the war on terror," said Li, adding that only through concerted efforts by the international community can the funding and weapons sources of terrorists be cut off.