China urges U.S., Albania to repatriate "Eastern Turkistan" terrorist suspects

The United States and Albania should repatriate the five "Eastern Turkistan" terrorist suspects as quickly as possible, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Tuesday.

The U.S. government announced last Saturday it had set free five Chinese Uygur Muslims from the Guantanamo Bay detention center and allowed them to go to Albania as refugee for resettlement.

"The five people accepted by the Albanian side are by no means refugees, but "Eastern Turkistan" terrorist suspects," Liu said at a routine press conference held in Beijing on Tuesday.

"I think they should be repatriated to China," Liu said, adding, "The acts of the U.S. and Albanian sides are a gross violation of international law and UN resolution, and we are strongly opposed to this."

"We have made strong representations to related sides and urged them to repatriate the five terrorist suspects to China as soon as possible," he said.

"Eastern Turkistan" is a component of international terrorists and has close contacts with Al Qaida and Taliban, he said.

He said strengthening international cooperation in combating terrorism conforms to the interests of China and other other countries.

Liu said he hopes related sides could strengthen such cooperation, nor vise versa.

Source: Xinhua