The Hindu : International : China, Japan offer help to fight terror

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 09, 2005

International

International

China, Japan offer help to fight terror

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: China, Japan, Malaysia and Australia led the way in the wider East Asian region by offering Britain various forms of assistance to fight global terrorism in the aftermath of Thursday's deadly blasts across the London transport network.

Countries across East Asia, including Singapore, host to the ongoing meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which was attended by several world leaders, have stepped up security alerts and arrangements.

The London blasts, which coincided with the inauguration of an international summit in Scotland, occurred the day after the IOC awarded London the right to host the 2012 Olympics. Friday's IOC session began on a note of remembrance for the blast victims. Expressing shock over the attacks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Thursday night that the global fight against terrorism "remains an arduous task".

Emphasising that "the international community still has a long way to go" in this campaign, Mr. Liu said: "China will continue to enhance cooperation with the international community in this field".

Reaffirming China's opposition to terrorism in any form, he said "anyone who launches terrorist attacks and causes casualties of civilians should be resolutely condemned, regardless of his or her purpose".

Voicing "strong indignation at these [London] terrorist attacks", Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he was "determined to offer [Britain] any assistance" to tide over the crisis.

With Japan, a key ally of the United States, strengthening security arrangements at civilian and military-related facilities, including the transport network, the Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told journalists in Tokyo on Friday that "we cannot rule out a possibility that there are terrorists and criminals around us".

Australian Prime Minister John Howard expressed solidarity with "our British friends and allies". V.S. Sambandan

reports from Colombo:

The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, on Friday expressed her "shock and dismay" over Thursday's terror attacks in London and expressed the conflict-ridden island-nation's solidarity with the victims of the urban bombing in the British capital.

In a message to British premier, Tony Blair, Ms. Kumaratunga said: "People of Sri Lanka have suffered immensely as a result of terrorist attacks and we know only too well the devastation that can be caused by terrorists as well as the suffering and agony of the victims and their families." Unreservedly condemning such acts, the Sri Lankan President said, "we share your view that democratic values and the way of life of the civilised world cannot be undermined by terrorism."

The foreign office in Colombo said there were no Sri Lankan victims reported yet in the bomb attacks that shattered normality in Central London on Thursday. The Sri Lankan mission in London has opened hotlines in the British capital to provide or seek information on Sri Lankans. The numbers are: 00442072621841 and 00442072620875

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