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http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2002-daily/17-09-2002/world/w2.htm Daily Jang (Pakistan) September 17, 2002 China and Kyrgyzstan plan anti-terrorism exercise -The maneuver, the first of its kind, could help China counterbalance the growing US military presence in the vitally important Central Asian region.... -[I]t may also have a broader significance at a time when the United States has stationed troops in several Central Asian countries as part of its war on terror, analysts said. -"China wants to balance the US military presence in the region," said Joseph Cheng, a China watcher at City University of Hong Kong. "The Central Asian republics have to accept the US presence ... but they are also interested in maintaining a balance of power in the area." BEIJING: Troops from China and Kyrgyzstan will join forces in a large-scale anti-terrorism exercise next month, the Chinese foreign ministry said Monday. The maneuver, the first of its kind, could help China counterbalance the growing US military presence in the vitally important Central Asian region, according to observers. "China and Kyrgyzstan have agreed to hold joint anti-terrorism military exercises along the border area in October," a foreign ministry spokesman said. "This demonstrates the resolute will of China and Kyrgyzstan to jointly combat the three evil forces (of terrorism, separatism and extremism)," he said. The Wen Wei Po, a Beijing-backed Hong Kong paper, said the planned exercise would involve "tens of thousands" of troops and cover a 100-kilometer-deep (63-mile-deep) area along the border. China shares several hundreds of kilometers of border with Kyrgyzstan in its western region of Xinjiang, whose Muslim separatist movement has been a constant worry for Beijing. Lieutenant General Qiu Yanhan, the head of the Xinjiang Military Area Command, visited Kyrgyzstan early this month to discuss the exercise with local officials, the Wen Wei Po said. The exercise aims to practice coordinated operations against international terrorism and test various anti-terrorism tactics, according to the paper. But it may also have a broader significance at a time when the United States has stationed troops in several Central Asian countries as part of its war on terror, analysts said. "China wants to balance the US military presence in the region," said Joseph Cheng, a China watcher at City University of Hong Kong. "The Central Asian republics have to accept the US presence ... but they are also interested in maintaining a balance of power in the area," he said. The maneuver will be the first bilateral anti-terrorism exercise within the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the foreign ministry spokesman said. He said the exercise will mark "a concrete step" in implementing the Shanghai Convention, signed in June last year, which lays a legal foundation for joint efforts to combat terrorism and separatism. Members of the SCO, which also includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, will be invited to send observers to the exercise, the Wen Wei Po said. The Shanghai group was formally established in June 2001, when Uzbekistan joined the existing "Shanghai Five" which had met annually since 1996. The group has pledged to cooperate against international terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism in the Muslim-dominated Central Asian region. Despite these objectives, many observers have argued the organization has so far proved largely irrelevant in the global war on terrorism triggered by the attacks on the United States on September 11 last year. "China and the other members want to show the world that the organization is functioning, and that it's functioning well," said City University's Cheng. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the exercise would help strengthen mutual trust with Kyrgyzstan in the military field. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
