Australian Prime Minister: "IS has global ambitions"

(Baonghean.vn) - The anti-jihadist summit began on June 11 in Sydney, Australia and will continue on June 12. Opening the conference, Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned representatives of 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region that the “Islamic State” (IS) has “global ambitions”.

Abbott opened a regional counter-terrorism summit in Sydney on June 11 by outlining strategies to counter jihadist groups and warning that IS posed a global threat.

“You cannot negotiate with such an entity, you can only fight against it. This is not terrorism based on a local grievance, this is terrorism with global ambitions,” he said of IS.

The summit, attended by ministers and representatives from 30 countries, as well as tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter, saw the Australian prime minister stress the need to find ways to counter extremist ideology and recruitment methods.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned that IS has "global ambitions". Photo: Internet.

Topics on the conference agenda include working with social media and civil society organizations as well as combating terrorist propaganda. The conference opens as the US recently announced it would send 450 additional military advisers to Iraq to help the Iraqi army fight IS.

“We need young people who are unrealistic dreamers to understand that joining this death cult (IS) is a completely wrong and wayward way to express their desire for sacrifice,” Abbott said. “How best to do that, of course, is the job of the conference.”

More than 100 Australians are believed to have joined jihadist groups in the Middle East, and at least 30 have been killed, according to government figures.

Australia is planning to introduce laws that would strip dual nationals of their citizenship if they are suspected of terrorism. A similar law would apply to people who are only Australian citizens.

“The only truly effective defense against terrorism is to convince people that it is pointless,” Abbott declared.

Thu Giang

(According to AFP/AP)