Troops from China and Kyrgyzstan joined forces Thursday in
exercises near the Kyrgyz-Chinese border aimed at countering
incursions by terrorist groups, Kyrgyz Defense Minister Esen
Topoyev said.
"Today on the Kyrgyz-Chinese border joint anti-terrorism exercises
began involving the armed forces of Kyrgyzstan and China began in
the south of the country," Topoyev said.
The maneuvers are taking place over two days near the Irkeshtam
crossing on the Kyrgyz-Chinese border and involve some 300 troops
from China's Xinjiang military district and Kyrgyzstan's defense
ministry and border forces, he said.
It
is the first bilateral anti-terrorism exercise being carried out
within the framework of the six-member Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO), according to Topoyev.
The maneuver aims to practice coordinated operations against
possible incursions by international terrorists onto the territory
of either Kyrgyzstan or China, the minister added.
"These exercises demonstrate the desire of the two countries to
work together in a friendly manner to fight terrorist groups on the
territory of these two countries," he said.
Members of the SCO, which also includes Russia, Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, are participating as observers of the
exercises.
China shares several hundreds of kilometers (miles) of border with
Kyrgyzstan in its western region of Xinjiang, whose Muslim
separatist movement has been a constant worry for Beijing.
The fragile nature of security in the area was highlighted earlier
this year when a senior Chinese diplomat was gunned down in
Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek.
The diplomat and his driver were killed at the end of June in an
attack which local officials suspected might have involved Muslim
separatists from Xinjiang.
Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, was dramatically shaken in 1999 and 2000
when rebels from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) carried
out an incursion across the ex-Soviet republic's border with
Tajikistan.
The IMU has since been branded a foreign terrorist organization
with links to the al-Qaeda network by the United States. IMU leader
Djuma Namangani is reported to have been killed while fighting with
the Taliban in Afghanistan.
(China
Daily October 11, 2002)