Published by: The World Uyghur Network News, April 28, 1997

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Saturday April 26, 1997

Facing increased violence from Muslim separatists, President Jiang Zemin has appealed to Central Asian neighbors for help in fighting the rebels, a report said yesterday.

Mr. Jiang made the request in separate meetings on Thursday in Moscow with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Xinhua (the New China News Agency) said.

The leaders, along with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, signed an agreement on troop reduction along their borders.

Exiles from Xinjiang's dominant ethnic group, the Uygurs, living in Kazakhstan, claim to be funneling money and weapons to separatists in China.

Mr. Jiang asked Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to stop anti-Chinese "splittism" activities and secure the social stability and economic development of the two countries, Xinhua (the New China News Agency) reported. Mr. Jiang made similar pleas to the presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Askar Akayev and Emomali Rakhmonov.

He also offered co-operation in combating the separatists and international terrorism.

Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said all three Central Asian leaders agreed separatism must be stopped, the China Daily reported.

Mr. Qian said the Kazakh and Kyrgyz presidents pledged not to allow such activities in their countries.

Meanwhile, the Legal Daily reported that two men had been executed for robbing train passengers in Xinjiang.

The two were among six people the Rail Transport Intermediate Court sentenced before a public rally at the train station in the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, the newspaper reported.

It said Huang Junqi and Gao Dewen were taken to an execution ground and shot.

The other four received prison sentences.

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