BEIJING (Reuters) - China, Russia and four Central Asian states have agreed to hold anti-terrorism drills in Russia next year, China's official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday, underlining the group's efforts to bolster its regional clout.
The six nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) announced the exercises after a one-day meeting of their defence ministers in Beijing.
The SCO groups the formerly Soviet-controlled states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with regional giants China and Russia. Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran are observer countries at SCO meetings.
Founded in 2001 from a looser association set up in 1996, the group is seen by some -- in Moscow at least -- as a balance to U.S. influence in the region, though Russia's defence minister on Wednesday stressed it was not a military or political bloc.
"Using arms to face terrorists is not aimed at any third country. It is to maintain regional peace and stability," Sergei Ivanov told a news conference. "The SCO is not a military alliance. But, according to its charter, it has the right to use arms to react to any challenge, like terrorism."
Niklas Swanstrom, director of the Contemporary Silk Road Studies Programme at Sweden's Uppsala University, said SCO members were divided by long-standing rivalries but united by fears of domestic threats, including militant Islamist groups.
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He said that, unlike the West, China and Russia sympathise with the problems that the region's often harshly authoritarian states face with militants.
For Beijing, the SCO has become a vehicle for bolstering its increasingly prominent security and economic interests in Central Asia while reassuring Moscow, the region's traditional patron.
Beijing's strategic stake in Central Asia is also underpinned by energy, with the region expected to supply energy-famished China with growing volumes of gas and oil.
"Central Asia is the backyard of Russia, but China is making extremely aggressive inroads," Swanstrom said.
Last year, Beijing welcomed Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov just two weeks after a crackdown against protests in his country that independent observers say may have killed hundreds.
SHOWING SOME TEETH
Member nations, except Uzbekistan, first staged joint military drills in 2003 in China's far northwestern Xinjiang region and Kazakhstan, which were also "anti-terror" exercises.
China and Russia held joint exercises in China last August, the only time the former Cold War foes' armies have cooperated on any significant scale since the Korean War in the 1950s.
Those manoeuvres -- officially aimed at quelling ethnic conflicts and resisting any interference by a "third force", an apparent reference to the United States -- were seen as a sign the SCO had begun to show some teeth after a low-key start.
The SCO has a mandate to combat "terrorism" and Islamic radicalism across the region, including opposition groups that Central Asian states treat as threats to their control.
China says it is threatened by terrorism in Xinjiang, home to over 8 million Uighurs, a largely Islamic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with neighbouring Central Asia.
Many Uighurs resent the growing Han Chinese presence in Xinjiang, as well as strict controls on religion and culture.
"The (SCO) governments strongly support China against the Uighurs," said Swanstrom.
The London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International said two Uighur men from Xinjiang who have been detained in Kazakhstan since last year risk being tortured or sentenced to death if they are repatriated and convicted of serious crimes.
One is accused of separatism, while the other fled China after protesting against the strict family planning policy and harsh working conditions during mandatory state labour, it said.
How would these exercises would go?
How would the mixed capblitiy and equipment mixed?
Anyone has any information about Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan CT forces?
The six nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) announced the exercises after a one-day meeting of their defence ministers in Beijing.
The SCO groups the formerly Soviet-controlled states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan with regional giants China and Russia. Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran are observer countries at SCO meetings.
Founded in 2001 from a looser association set up in 1996, the group is seen by some -- in Moscow at least -- as a balance to U.S. influence in the region, though Russia's defence minister on Wednesday stressed it was not a military or political bloc.
"Using arms to face terrorists is not aimed at any third country. It is to maintain regional peace and stability," Sergei Ivanov told a news conference. "The SCO is not a military alliance. But, according to its charter, it has the right to use arms to react to any challenge, like terrorism."
Niklas Swanstrom, director of the Contemporary Silk Road Studies Programme at Sweden's Uppsala University, said SCO members were divided by long-standing rivalries but united by fears of domestic threats, including militant Islamist groups.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said that, unlike the West, China and Russia sympathise with the problems that the region's often harshly authoritarian states face with militants.
For Beijing, the SCO has become a vehicle for bolstering its increasingly prominent security and economic interests in Central Asia while reassuring Moscow, the region's traditional patron.
Beijing's strategic stake in Central Asia is also underpinned by energy, with the region expected to supply energy-famished China with growing volumes of gas and oil.
"Central Asia is the backyard of Russia, but China is making extremely aggressive inroads," Swanstrom said.
Last year, Beijing welcomed Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov just two weeks after a crackdown against protests in his country that independent observers say may have killed hundreds.
SHOWING SOME TEETH
Member nations, except Uzbekistan, first staged joint military drills in 2003 in China's far northwestern Xinjiang region and Kazakhstan, which were also "anti-terror" exercises.
China and Russia held joint exercises in China last August, the only time the former Cold War foes' armies have cooperated on any significant scale since the Korean War in the 1950s.
Those manoeuvres -- officially aimed at quelling ethnic conflicts and resisting any interference by a "third force", an apparent reference to the United States -- were seen as a sign the SCO had begun to show some teeth after a low-key start.
The SCO has a mandate to combat "terrorism" and Islamic radicalism across the region, including opposition groups that Central Asian states treat as threats to their control.
China says it is threatened by terrorism in Xinjiang, home to over 8 million Uighurs, a largely Islamic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with neighbouring Central Asia.
Many Uighurs resent the growing Han Chinese presence in Xinjiang, as well as strict controls on religion and culture.
"The (SCO) governments strongly support China against the Uighurs," said Swanstrom.
The London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International said two Uighur men from Xinjiang who have been detained in Kazakhstan since last year risk being tortured or sentenced to death if they are repatriated and convicted of serious crimes.
One is accused of separatism, while the other fled China after protesting against the strict family planning policy and harsh working conditions during mandatory state labour, it said.
How would these exercises would go?
How would the mixed capblitiy and equipment mixed?
Anyone has any information about Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan CT forces?
of course he was detained by the Nazirbayev's guard because he tried