China on Thursday said the global anti-terrorism situation is still "grim and complex," calling for more international cooperation to fight the threat.

"The international community should boost their cooperation and make more efforts to counter the threat of international terrorism," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said at a regular press briefing, when asked to respond to questions related to the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. commandos in Pakistan.

While emphasizing the importance of joint efforts to fight terrorism -- "the common enemy of the international community," Jiang said China holds that the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of any country should be respected.

Jiang said that Pakistan is a country at the anti-terrorism front-line and the international community should "give more understanding and support" to the south Asian country.

"We will continue to support Pakistan in instituting their own anti-terrorism strategies and carrying them out based on their domestic situation, and we appreciate Pakistan's active participation in the international anti-terrorism cooperation," she said.

"China has also been a victim to terrorism," said the spokesperson, noting that some terrorist forces have carried out a large number of criminal activities in an attempt to split China, which seriously jeopardizes China's security and regional peace and stability as well.

Crackdowns on the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces are an important part of the global war against terrorism, Jiang said. "We hope that the international community will cooperate more closely and combat terrorism hand in hand."

With the aim of splitting Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region off from China, the "East Turkistan" forces appeared in the 1930s to 1940s and turned extremely violent in the 1990s. The terrorist forces were responsible for at least 200 violent attacks in Xinjiang between 1990 and 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2011)