China, Russia, Central Asian leaders meet in security summit

RUSSIA: The leaders of China, Russia and four Central Asian states met Thursday in Kyrgyzstan to build on growing military and political ties and to counter Western influence in the strategic region.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russia's Vladimir Putin, together with the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, gathered in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

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, into what China and Russia see as their backyard.

The SCO, founded six years ago, publicly denies such an agenda. China's ambassador to Moscow, Liu Guchang, said before the summit that "long-term good-neighbourliness, friendship and cooperation" would be discussed.

However, with US influence waning in parts of Central Asia, the SCO is gaining clout as a leading security organisation in the energy-rich region.

The six countries' presidents will underline this Friday when they go on to attend joint military exercises near Chelyabinsk in Russia, the first in the SCO's history to involve servicemen from all member states. Together, SCO states cover a vast territory including increasingly important gas and oil fields in Russia and Central Asia, as well as the emerging economic giant of China.

Kyrgyzstan, Thursday, AFP