US finally calls Kunming knife attack a ‘terror act’ after Chinese media fury

Washington: After the Chinese state media slammed the United States for downplaying the knife attack at the Kunming railway station in Yunnan province, the US State Department on Tuesday agreed to term the attack an act of terrorism.

The controversy over the US reaction revolves around a violent attack by the separatist forces in Xinjiang, when terrorists brandishing knives went on a stabbing-spree at a railway station in Kunming city of China’s Yunnan province, slashing to death at least 29 people and injuring 130 on saturday.

In an initial reaction, the US had stopped short of calling the attack an act of terror, merely calling it “a horrific, senseless act of violence”.

Following which Chinese state media accused the US of “double standards in the global fight against terrorism”.

The Chinese media lashed out at the US for its “ambiguous stance on the on China’s counter-terrorism drive in Xinjiang”.

An angry commentary in Xinhua stated, “ For the “most active human rights defender,” the latest random killing of 29 innocent civilians is too insignificant to be a terrorist activity…. This is not the first time they have adopted this double standard on terrorism. In October, CNN published an op-ed article titled “Tian’anmen crash: Terrorism or cry of desperation?”.

The knife attack, which is the bloodiest attack in China in recent years, was called as “premeditated, violent terrorist attack” by the ethnic separatists in Xinjiang in western China.

Xinjiang is home to the Uighur Muslims. Xinjinag has been restive for the past few years as Uighurs have protested over growing settlements of Han Chinese in the province.

The militants belonging to the banned East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM, an al-Qaeda linked group have been staging many violent attacks through Xinjiang but very rarely they attack outside the province of Xinjiang.