US embassy issues alert after report of Lunar New Year terror plot in Kunming
PUBLISHED : Monday, 16 February, 2015, 1:34am
UPDATED : Monday, 16 February, 2015, 9:32am
Staff Reporters
The US embassy in Beijing says it is aware of unspecified media reports that terrorists are planning an attack in Kunming, Yunnan, over the Lunar New Year period.
A source close to China's domestic security apparatus told the Post terrorists were planning to retaliate against Beijing's recent attempts to hunt down Uygurs from Xinjiang who fled to Indonesia and Malaysia.
The news comes after public security vice-minister Meng Hongwei said on Friday that China would send more police liaison officers overseas to boost efforts to bring home fugitives and clamp down on nationals fleeing the country for militant Islamist training.
The US embassy said in a "security message" on Friday it had not been able to verify the claims of a terrorist plot, adding that neither US citizens nor foreigners in general were targeted in last year's terror attacks in China.
Five knife-wielding assailants attacked travellers at Kunming train station in March, killing 31 and injuring 141 after their group failed to cross the border into Vietnam.
The Global Times reported last week, citing both Chinese and Indonesian embassies, that four suspects from Xinjiang were arrested last year in Poso, central Sulawesi. It said the four initially claimed they had come from Xinjiang, but later said they came from Turkey. The arrest was first reported by The Jakarta Post, which said the suspects were tied to a separatist group that launched last year's Kunming attack.
And last month, Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi quoted the visiting Meng as saying that more than 300 Chinese nationals had used Malaysia as a transit point to join up with Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
An official newspaper of China's Ministry of Public Security reported yesterday that China had sent 49 police liaison officers to 27 countries and another 13 were due to travel to four other countries this year.
Meng said that police liaison officers played a crucial role in repatriating Chinese fugitives and safeguarding the country's national security.
"There are new opportunities in diplomacy relating to law enforcement and security. The constant changes in international and domestic conditions have created many challenges for police liaison officers," Meng was quoted by state-run Xinhua as saying on Saturday.
In a related move, a document on reforming China's public security system said the police should step up coordination with other agencies to increase their effectiveness in apprehending criminal suspects and recovering illicit assets sent overseas.
Police liaison officers were first sent to the Chinese embassy in the United States in 1998, but their role has gained significance over the past year as China launched an operation to bring home fugitives as part of President Xi Jinping's far-reaching anti-graft campaign.
Last year, officers brought back to China more than 200 fugitives wanted for corruption and other economic crimes, Xinhua reported.
