On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the "September 11" attacks, the
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan declared a UN counter-terrorism strategy under
the theme of "precautions, strike, long-term cooperation and protection of human
rights", which indicates that taking precautions would be an important approach
for the international community to fight terrorism, and that a brand-new
situation is going to be opened up in the antiterrorist struggle.
The antiterrorist struggle is a three-in-one action system, which
incorporates precautions, strike and rescue operation. In the face of
increasingly hidden, dispersed and diversified terrorist acts, it is not enough
to rely on military strike alone. To place emphasis on taking precautions can
not only help consolidate and maintain the unity of international antiterrorist
forces, but also is conducive for pushing for in-depth development of the
antiterrorist struggle.
To take precautions against terrorist attack mainly includes two aspects:
first, to create an antiterrorist environment in order to guard against the
spread of the terrorist motives; second, to take precautions against and curb
terrorist attacks in order to guard against the occurrence of terrorist
incidents.
Compared with purely military strikes, preventive actions have wide
implications and are more comprehensive. In addition to traditionally
intensifying the control in financial field in order to cut off the economic
resources of terrorists, it is also needed to strengthen the management of
Internet and provide people with ideological guidance. That is to say, while
strengthening the army, intelligence and police organizations in terms of their
antiterrorism capabilities, it is also necessary to strengthen the "soft" work.
The antiterrorist preventive actions also need to strengthen international
cooperation in terms of technology and information. To establish global and
regional anti-terrorist early warning network so as to keep abreast with the
movements of terrorist organizations and terrorists, and know well the laws of
their actions is going to be an important content of the international
antiterrorist cooperation. In fact, the achievements in antiterrorist struggle
have been mostly made through strengthening of preventive measures. UK's foil of
the terrorists' attempt to blast passenger flight at the end of last month is a
case in point. If this can be achieved, then it would give people more
confidences.
By Lin Dong
(Sept 14, PLA Daily)