China and Russia began talks on Wednesday in Beijing about collaborating to combat terrorism, the first meeting of its kind between the two giant neighbours.
The "working group meeting" was expected to last two days and reinforce mutual support for their respective campaigns against possible Islamic separatists, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Zhaoxing and his Russian counterpart Anatoli Safonov were leading the session that was agreed during an economic summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Shanghai last month.
China and Russia have backed the US-led war against terrorism, following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Leaders from the two nations joined hands with four Central Asian states in June to launch a newly-named regional organisation -- the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation -- to combat Islamic militancy and take a common stand against the US missile defence plans.
In a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin on November 19, the two sides repeated their commitment to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which would ban the sort of missile defence plan envisaged by Washington.
( November 28, 2001)
