China’s central bank said yesterday the nation has been accepted as an observer at the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, a major intergovernmental organization launched in 1989 by the Group-7 Summit. Observer status marks another step by the nation to step up its international co-operation in combating the threat of money laundering and the funding of terrorism. China is already playing an active role in promoting such co-operation among members of the Euro-Asian Group on Combating Money-Laundry and Financing of Terrorism, the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, said at the end of last year. China is a founding member of that group, established in October 2004. Other members include Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Full Story