Twenty-two Uygurs now seeking political asylum in Cambodia are separatists who are subject to Chinese law, a Chinese diplomat told Cambodian media yesterday.

Qian Hai, the spokesman for the embassy in Phnom Penh, underlined Beijing's "fundamental" policy that all of those involved in violating Chinese law should be brought to justice.

"For the July affair in Xinjiang, there were many violent criminal acts. It was planned by a very small number of people who want to separate from China, who want to split China," he said, according to the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.