By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING, Sept 27 (Reuters) - China and its Asian neighbours have agreed to tighten border controls and increase protection over Chinese operations that could be targets of "East Turkistan" militants, China's Ministry of Public Security said.

China blames militants in the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) for attacks in the far western frontier region of Xinjiang, where the local Uighurs, a Muslim people with cultural ties to central Asia, often chafe under Chinese rule.

Deadly riots by Uighurs in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi on July 5 killed 197 people, most of them majority Han Chinese. Han crowds launched revenge attacks two days later.

"Law enforcement departments in Central Asia, Western Asia and Southern Asia have achieved a common consensus over jointly attacking East Turkistan terrorist forces," the ministry said on its website on Sunday, without specifying which countries.

They would exchange intelligence, "prevent overseas terrorist forces from penetrating into China," tighten border controls and boost protection around Chinese targets abroad, it said.

The announcement comes as Beijing prepares to host Russian premier Vladimir Putin and other Asian leaders at an Oct. 14 meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security grouping.

The ETIM is listed as a terrorist organisation by the U.S. after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but scholars' views vary on how large, or organised, the group actually is.

RIGHTS GROUPS CRITICAL

Some human rights organisations say the crackdown on the group allows China to quash legitimate demands by Uighurs, who now make up only about half the population of oil-rich Xinjiang after decades of Han Chinese immigration.

Many minorities, including Uighurs and Tibetans, complain that they are shut out from economic opportunities while government policies discourage their languages and religious practices. China's white paper on minorities, released on Sunday, reiterates that all citizens should be treated equally.

Many Han Chinese resent policies that allow minorities to have more children and get into college with lower test scores.

"There are some people who say that the government treats ethnic minorities too well, and they complain that such policies are going too far," said Wu Shimin, the deputy head of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.

"Indeed, minorities get preferential treatment, and it's necessary," he told reporters at a press conference on Sunday.

But bureaucrats said the tensions in Urumqi would not lead to immediate changes in those policies. "There will be no change in policy towards minority areas, Xinjiang included," said Yang Jing, the commission's chief.

"As times move on and as we find new situations in the years ahead, those policies will be adjusted and improved."

Internet access and international calls have been cut off in Xinjiang since July riots, feeding rumours like the mass panic over alleged syringe attacks that struck Urumqi early this month.

On Sunday, the Xinjiang government passed new regulations on Internet content, outlawing content that "undermines ethnic unity", "stirs up splittism" or "harms social stability" and violates the security of the Internet.

It also outlawed information that encroaches on intellectual property rights, reveals commercial secrets, or violates privacy and other legal rights and interests of people and organizations.

(Writing by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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