Several outside scholars have said that the Chinese government has failed to substantiate the existence of ETIM, and that it is inflating the group's reach to justify tightening policies against Uighurs in Xinjiang.
US courts have repeatedly held that even if the connection to ETIM was absolutely true, it would not be sufficient grounds to detain the Uighurs.
ETIM has not said it was behind any of the attacks.
"Could it be that ETIM, having failed to gain international publicity through its domestic attacks, has decided to go international?" Baum wrote.
"Could it be that ETIM, having failed to gain international publicity through its domestic attacks, has decided to go international?" If so, they're keeping pretty bloody quiet about it.
Etim-Thomas definitely won it on the last point of the match, ending it suddenly on a cross-court attempt from Emery.
Chinese authorities said the Turkestan Islamic Party - which it says is synonymous with ETIM - released a video backing the Kunming attack, however.
In 2002, the US state department, designated a Uighur group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (Etim), as a terrorist organisation, but later removed it from the list.
It is evident from a conversation with Bassey Etim, who supervises the desk, that handling the 24-7 ofrush of comment is at times like stoppering the proverbial dike.
However, Michael Clarke, a professor at Griffith University in Sydney who has written about Xinjiang, told AFP news agency: "It's not that China shouldn't be concerned [about ETIM's ties to Pakistan and central Asian countries], but the core issue is that the linkages have been exaggerated by the Chinese government".
