Where Is ISIS? China Reacts To Islamic State Video Threat By Muslim Uighurs With Military Power Show

China was seeking international cooperation on combatting radical Islamic extremism after a video attributed to the Islamic State group appeared to threaten Beijing directly for the first time, the Chinese foreign ministry revealed Wednesday. The news came as Beijing conducted joint air and land anti-terror drills in its restive, northwestern region from which militants featured in the video were believed to have originated.

The half-hour clip was released Monday by ISIS' al-Furat or Euphrates division active in western Iraq and eastern Syrian and depicted militants from China's Muslim-majority Uighur population training for combat and executing alleged informants, according to SITE Intelligence Group. China has maintained a tight grip on the northwestern Xinjiang region where most of its Uighur community live, however, Beijing has blamed a number of deadly bomb, knife and vehicle attacks in recent years on jihadist activity in the area. Monday's video appeared to validate China's fears that some Uighurs might join larger Islamic fundamentalist movements.

"Oh, you Chinese who do not understand what people say. We are the soldiers of the Caliphate, and we will come to you to clarify to you with the tongues of our weapons, to shed blood like rivers and avenging the oppressed," one Uighur militant said before executing an accused spy, according to Al Jazeera.

The footage also included images of China's President Xi Jinping bursting into flames and was the group's "first direct threat" against China, Michael Clarke, an expert on Xinjiang at the National Security College of Australian National University, told Agence France-Presse Wednesday, adding that China was now "very firmly a target of jihadist rhetoric." Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said he had no knowledge of the video, but emphasized the government's willingness to work with other nations in fighting Islamist militants.

"One point is very clear. We oppose any form of terrorism and proactively participate in international cooperation to crack down on terrorism," he told a daily news briefing Wednesday, according to Reuters. "We have long said that East Turkestan forces are a serious threat to China's security and we are willing to work with the international community to jointly crack down on East Turkestan separatist and terrorist forces," Geng said.

That same day, China's air force reportedly joined ongoing anti-terror drills being conducted in Xinjiang. The exercise included at least 18 aircraft and thousands of military and paramilitary soldiers in an apparent escalation of the country's efforts to establish security in the region.

"The joint drills were problem-solving-oriented and can effectively protect regional security and stability, since the air force, including helicopters, was not in place in previous counter-terrorism operations in Xinjiang," Li Wei, an anti-terror expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the state-run People's Daily Wednesday.

Beijing has routinely held military operations in Xinjiang in hopes of discouraging militant activity. Some human rights organizations have accused China of discriminating and oppressing its Uighur minority, something Beijing has denied.