China on Tuesday called on the international community to continue to strengthen multilateral counter-terrorism cooperation within the UN framework.

China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui made the appeal at the thematic debate of the UN Security Council on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorists.

"Recently, a series of alarming acts of terror occurred in such places as Mumbai, resulting in heavy casualties of innocent people. The Chinese delegation expresses its deep condolences to the victims," Zhang told the council.

"These cruel realities remind us once again that terrorism still remains a potent threat to peace and security of international community," he said.

The Security Council, as the core of the international collective security machinery, should play an important role in international fight against terrorism, he said.

"Terrorism is the common threat facing the international community and it is imperative to continue to step up the multilateral counter terrorism cooperation within the UN framework," he said.

China believes that all UN bodies should pay attention to both stepping up counter-terrorism measures and removing the root causes that give rise to terrorism, he said.

"The member states are the real owners in the implementation of all UN counter-terrorism resolutions," the Chinese envoy said. "Their will and capacity in counter-terrorism determines the implementation of those resolutions."

"However, limited resources and inadequate counter-terrorism capacities have led to the inability of many countries, especially the developing countries to honor fully their counter-terrorism obligations, and thus limited seriously the international community's achievements in the struggle against terrorism," he stressed.

China hopes that the international community will pay greater attention to the capacity-building in counter-terrorism and invest more resources to help the developing countries with counter-terrorism assistance that meets their actual needs and help them improve expeditiously capabilities so that the effective implementation of all UN counter-terrorism resolutions will have a firm basis, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2008)