US double standard on terrorism

At the end of April, a severe terrorist attack took place in Kashgar, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which was condemned by people in China but was seen with circumspection by some US officials. By adopting such double standard, the US will not only harm China's fight against terrorism, but also end up shooting itself in the foot, says an article in Beijing Times. Excerpts:

A US government spokesman not only refused to recognize the Kashgar attack as the handiwork of terrorists, but also "carefully worded" the statement to allude to China's policies on ethic groups, justice, human rights and religion, revealing its double standard when it comes to terrorist attacks on other countries.

The Chinese government and people have always sympathized with American citizens and cooperated with the US administration in its fight against terrorism since Sept 11, 2001. But the US government has stuck to its double standard as far as "East Turkistan" terrorists are concerned. It still refuses to define the separatist groups as terrorist organizations, which has misled world opinion on terrorist attacks against China.

Terrorism is terrorism, irrespective of its political purpose and the country it is targeted against. But according to Washington, terrorism against the US is terrorism but not so when it is targeted against China.

The US' double standard reflects its bias against China, which runs counter to the consensus on enhancing mutual trust and strengthening cooperation against terrorism.