China, Russia, Central Asian Leaders Tout New Strength
16/08/2007
BISHKEK (AFP) - The leaders of China, Russia and four Central Asian states touted their growing military and political strength Thursday in a firm challenge to US attempts at gaining influence in the strategic region.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russia's Vladimir Putin, together with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, gathered near the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Speaking in a new conference centre built by Chinese contractors under the shining backdrop of the snow-covered Tien Shan mountains, the Russian president described the SCO as a budding force.
"Year after year the SCO becomes a more significant factor in strengthening security and stability in the Central Asian region," he said.
Anti-terrorism, anti-narcotics, the environment and economic development, especially via transport links, topped the agenda at the one-day talks.
On Friday, all six leaders were to attend the climax of unprecedented SCO military manoeuvres underway all week in Russia's Ural Mountains area.
Many analysts see the SCO as an anti-Western club aiming to stem inroads by the United States and its allies, as well as the NATO military alliance, in an oil- and gas-rich region that China and Russia consider their backyard.
The SCO, founded six years ago, publicly denies such an agenda.
However, calls for a "multi-polar world", repeated by several leaders Thursday, reflect opposition to US domination on the international stage.
A joint statement at the end of the summit also swiped at Washington's foreign policy, saying "modern challenges and security threats can only be effectively countered through united efforts of the international community."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attending as an observer, used the summit to lash out at US "interference" and claimed that US plans to build a missile defence shield in central Europe threatened most of Asia.
"It concerns most of the continent, Asia, the members of the SCO," he said, according to a Russian translation broadcast by organisers.
With US influence waning in parts of Central Asia, and NATO forces struggling to suppress Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, the SCO is gaining clout.
In 2005 the United States was forced to close a military base in Uzbekistan and now Kyrgyzstan is under pressure to end the US lease of an air base outside Bishkek. Russia says it wants to expand its own air base near the capital.
That military capability will be underlined Friday when the leaders attend joint exercises near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, the first in the SCO's history to involve servicemen from all member states.
Dubbed "anti-terrorism exercises," the manoeuvres involve some 6,500 troops and heavy weapons in taking control of a built-up area.
Critics, who see the SCO as a bastion against Western pressure for democratic development in the region, have described the scenario as training for repression of ethnic or civil unrest.
Putin praised the developing military capability and proposed "raising the SCO's capability in the security sphere" with regular military training exercises.
He also suggested the SCO organise a conference on development aid for Afghanistan, confirming a steady warming of Afghan-Russian ties almost two decades after Soviet troops ended their bloody occupation of the country.
Later Thursday Putin was to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, also attending the summit as a guest.
Others applying for SCO membership in addition to Iran are India and Pakistan, who sent lower-level representatives to Bishkek, and Mongolia, whose president was due to meet with Putin on Thursday.
The leader of the gas-rich, reclusive state of Turkmenistan also attended as a guest.
After his stop in Russia for the military exercises, Hu will complete his tour with a trip to oil-rich Kazakhstan.
China, Russia, Central Asian Leaders Tout New Strength
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