China pledged Tuesday to work more closely with the international community to fight terrorism.

"Combating the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIP) is an important part of international counter-terrorism efforts, which serve the interests of China, the United States and other countries," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular press conference.

Jiang's comments came after the US Treasury Department on Monday designated Abdul Haq, the ETIP's overall leader and commander, as a terrorist who supports al-Qaeda and declared it would freeze his assets and prohibit transactions with him.

The US move followed a decision by the UN Security Council's 1267 Committee to place Haq on its list of people associated with Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda or the Taliban and subject to sanctions by UN member states.

"Haq was ETIP's major leader who has involved in recruiting terrorists and masterminding terrorist activities. ETIP is a terrorist organization designated by the Chinese government and the United Nations Security Council," Jiang said.

Jiang said that for a long time, ETIP and other "Eastern Turkistan" terrorist forces had carried out terrorist activities, wreaking havoc on civilians and property.

Jiang added that those activities also posed a threat to security and stability of China, and to the security and stability of relevant countries and the region.

"China takes a very clear stance on fighting terrorism and actively participates in the world counter-terrorism process," Jiang said.

She said China would like to follow the principle of 'equal cooperation and mutual benefit' and work more closely with other countries to combat terrorism and safeguard regional and world peace and stability.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2009)