World

Russia, China Blast U.S. Missile Plan

By Pete Brush

June 14, 2001 / 11:22 AM EDT / CBS

Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin showed a united front on Thursday in opposition to U.S. plans to build a national missile defense system.

But Jiang sounded a conciliatory note on sensitive China-U.S. ties, calling for a "constructive" relationship with Washington, according to Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

Jiang and Putin met in Shanghai to kick off a six-nation summit aimed at combating Islamic militancy in Central Asia just days before Putin is due to meet President Bush in Slovenia.

The Shanghai Five - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, plus the group's new member Uzbekistan - are expected to join forces against Mr. Bush's missile defense plans as he heads into a summit with the European Union.

Russia and China are united by unease over American dominance of global affairs. Beijing is believed to be pushing the Shanghai Five as a regional counterbalance to Washington's influence.

"President Putin reiterated Russia's principled position on that matter and China stated that it will continue to support Russia in its efforts to maintain the global equilibrium," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told a news conference.

Jiang's meeting with Putin was the first of three planned for this year as Moscow and Beijing, former rivals for leadership of the Communist world, forge a new alliance based largely on fears of Islamic separatist unrest and on opposition to U.S. policies.

On the missile defense system, Ivanov said: "Our views on this fully coincide with China."

But he added that Jiang and Putin had discussed the Russian leader's coming meeting with Mr. Bush.

"The Chinese side attaches great importance to its relations with the United States for international stability," he said. "The Chinese leadership intends to pursue a constructive policy in its relations with Washington."

Kremlin officials said on Wednesday that Bush's missile plan posed a threat to global security, backing up China's frequent warnings that the plan could trigger a new global arms race.

Moscow and Beijing also share common ground in seeking to offset growing U.S. influence in oil-rich Central Asia, where the Russian and British empires jostled for power in the Great Game of the 19th Century, analysts say.

The United States is already the largest foreign investor in Kazakhstan's oil and gas industries and Washington has provided millions of dollars in military aid to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The Shanghai Five, formed in 1996 to resolve lingering Sino-Soviet border disputes, admitted Uzbekistan as a new member on Thursday and agreed to change its name to the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization," Zhu said.

The group would sign two agreements on Friday, one on the establishment of the new organisation and one on boosting cross-border cooperation to combat "extremists, separatists and terrorists," he said.

The chief concern omost member states is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has led armed incursions across the region over the last two years in an attempt to create an independent Islamic state.

Russia, which is fighting Muslim guerrillas in Chechnya, wants a multinational effort against religious militancy. So does Uzbekistan, where rebels fighting for an independent Islamic state have made forays into neighboring countries.

China's communist leaders fear such fervor could spill over into its western region of Xinjiang, which borders several Central Asian republics including Afghanistan.

Beijing faces its most violent internal resistance from Muslim separatists in Xinjiang. Militant Uighurs, ethnically related to Turkic groups dominant in much of Central Asia, have waged a campaign of bombings and assassinations against Chinese rule.

Uighur groups in Kazakstan and elsewhere in the region are believed by Chinese and Western scholars to be supporting the separatists, helping them run drugs and buy arms. Chinese scholars believe Uighurs are receiving training in Afghanistan, along with Uzbek, Tajik and Kyrgyz militants.