China vows to strike first in combating terrorism
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-09 18:08

BEIJING -- Chinese authorities would adopt a strike-first policy against the "three evil forces" of terrorists, separatists and extremists in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a senior official said here on Sunday.

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Wang Lequan, chief of the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China, made the remarks on the sidelines of the national parliamentary session.

"We are prepared to strike them when the evil forces are planning their activities," he said.

Meanwhile, Wang said that the terrorists killed and nabbed earlier this year in Xinjiang had planned an attack targeting the Beijing Olympic Games.

Police smashed a terrorist gang this past January in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, killing two and arresting 15 others, one year after police destroyed a terrorist training camp in the Pamir plateau, killing 18 terrorists and capturing 17.

"Those terrorists, saboteurs and secessionists are to be battered resolutely, no matter what ethnic group they are from," said Wang.