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By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Dec 03, 2008

BEIJING (AP) — China plans to send additional police liaisons to countries facing major terror threats in a bid to boost cooperation with local security forces and head-off attacks, the Public Security Ministry said Wednesday.

The move adds to more aggressive tactics against terror threats, particularly those from activists battling for an independent Muslim homeland in the far western territory of Xinjiang.

China says it foiled a series of planned attacks this year, some targeting the Beijing Olympics. While terror experts say the likelihood of a successful attack in China is low, intelligence gathering, especially abroad, is seen as Beijing's biggest weakness in combating such threats.

An announcement on the ministry's Web site said police officers already posted abroad had played a key role in heading off attacks on Chinese diplomatic missions and financial institutions. The notice did not give the names of countries where attacks had been foiled or provide other details.

Without naming specific nations, the ministry said police officers would be dispatched to countries where "anti-terrorism tasks are relatively heavier."

Separately, it said a police unit would be sent to Australia and other countries that are home to large numbers of Chinese students and immigrants.

The announcement, dated Tuesday, follows on the heels of the terrorist attacks in neighboring India. No Chinese were reported killed or injured in the attacks, blamed by India on Pakistan-based Islamic militants.

According to the official China Daily newspaper, China dispatched its first police liaison to the United States in 1998 and now has a total of 30 posted to 19 different countries.

Police liaisons also have helped in the identification, arrest and extradition of alleged criminals allied with groups fighting against Chinese rule in the country's traditionally Muslim Turkic Xinjiang region, the announcement said.

Along with anti-terrorism, police liaisons work on drug trafficking and other transnational crimes, as well as on tracking down Chinese officials and employees of state financial institutions who have fled abroad with embezzled funds or to avoid prosecution.