Chinese President Hu Jintao met in Tashkent Wednesday night with
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is here to attend the upcoming
summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a guest
of the president of Uzbekistan.
Hu told Karzai that he was shocked and deeply saddened by the
terrorist attack on Chinese workers in Afghanistan. China thinks
what the Afghan government has done so far to deal with the
aftermath of the attack was positive, but hopes the Afghan
government would do more, the Chinese president added.
"We are very much concerned with the fact that the criminals are
still at large," Hu said. "We hope the Afghan government would
carry out a thorough investigation into the incident as soon as
possible and punish those responsible."
China also hopes the Afghan government will take effective
measures to protect Chinese nationals in Afghanistan, Hu said.
Last Thursday morning, a group of about 20 armed men attacked
the Chinese workers compound in Jelogir area, 36 km away of
Kunduzcity in Afghanistan, killing 11 people and injuring four
others.
Hu said China's determination to oppose terrorism and fight
against the so-called "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and
extremism, will in no way waver despite the attack.
"The incident has again demonstrated that terrorism is our
common enemy, and the three forces still pose serious threat to
regional peace and stability," he said.
The Chinese president told Karzai that China will continue to
develop friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan, and
terrorist attacks will not undermine the friendship between China
and Afghanistan.
Karzai said he was gravely upset and sorry for the attack
against Chinese workers and he apologized on behalf of the Afghan
people.
The Afghan president described the attack as one against the
reconstruction of Afghanistan and its future. He promised that his
government will intensify investigations and will notify China of
any developments in time.
Karzai said Afghan will never tolerate terrorism in any form and
will continue to fight terrorism. He hopes China would continue to
participate in the reconstruction of his country.
(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2004)