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| A video grab image shows eight hostages holding
Chinese passports standing before a mud brick wall along with two
masked gunmen. The kidnappers threathen to kill them within 48 hours
unless China clarifies its stance on Iraq. (Reuters)
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Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan
expressed Tuesday China's deep concern over the kidnapping
of eight Chinese nationals in Iraq.
"China's Foreign Ministry is taking all measures to rescue the
hostages," the spokesman told reporters in Beijing.
The Chinese Embassy in Baghdad confirmed on
Tuesday that eight Chinese nationals were kidnapped by militants in Iraq,
pledging that the Chinese government would spare no effort
to secure their release.
Embassy diplomats said they were making all efforts to rescue the eight
hostages, who went missing last week while travelling to Jordan.
China Central Television (CCTV) reported staff from China's embassy in
Baghdad were in contact with Muslim clerics in hopes of effecting the
release of the eight.
The eight kidnapped persons are ordinary Chinese citizens who went to
Iraq on individual basis to seek jobs by themselves in the country, Kong
said.
Since they failed to find any work, they rent an automobile to leave
Iraq but were kidnapped on the way, he added. "The Chinese people has
always cherished friendly feelings toward the Iraqi people and sympathized
and supported them," Kong said.
"From beginning to end, the Chinese government has also, in dealing
with the Iraq issue, placed emphasis on the protection of the basic
interests of the Iraqi people," he said.
Sources told Xinhua the Chinese, from China's eastern province of
Fujian, were construction workers in a project to rebuild an Iraqi plant
in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. The eight went missing last week
while travelling to Jordan, according to the sources.
They said the project, signed with Iraq's interim government,has
nothing to do with the US-led multinational forces. A video tape aired by
the al-Jazeera TV channel on Tuesday showed the eight hostages holding
Chinese passports standing in a row, flanked by masked militants.
The pan-Arab channel did not release the text all at once, but part of
the statement read out by one militant indicated that the group could free
the hostages on condition that they "will quit their work with the
occupation forces."
In a handwritten note delivered with the tape, the insurgent group
calling itself al-Numan Brigades threatened to "kill the eight within 48
hours" unless China meet their demands.
It is not China's first brush with Middle Eastern terrorism. Seven
Chinese nationals were taken hostage in April last year, but released
shortly afterwards.
It was widely believed that the previous incident was a case of
mistaken identity, and that the hostage-takers had thought they were from
either Japan or South Korea, both countries that have supported US
policies in Iraq.
The incident highlights the growing risks China faces as it tries to
engage ever more closely with the rest of the world, sending its people to
all corners of the globe in search of jobs.
(Xinhua) | 
Updated: 2005-01-19 09:21