NEWS

Shanghai Group to Begin Holding War Games

By Charles Hutzler

The Associated Press

BEIJING — Defense ministers from China, Russia and four Central Asian nations agreed to hold joint anti-terrorism drills next year as they gathered Wednesday to discuss regional security, including the threat from Islamic militancy.

Armed forces from the six nations will stage the military exercise in Russian territory, in the Volga-Urals Military District, which borders Kazakhstan, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters after the meeting. Air forces and precision-guided weapons would likely be featured, he said. The joint exercise would be the largest staged by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which also includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The group, which was formally established five years ago, was founded to build confidence among the member nations and grapple with militant Islamic groups. China and Russia, which dominate the grouping, have used it to further their economic and political priorities in Central Asia, especially in countering the presence of U.S. bases there.

Ivanov and the defense minister of Kyrgyzstan, in separate comments to reporters, said that the group’s military cooperation was aimed at fighting terrorism and other emerging, non-traditional threats, not the United States.

“The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is not a military alliance,” Ivanov said. According to its charter, he said, the group “is entitled to use collective force to deal with threats and challenges, especially the new threats and challenges posed by terrorist forces in large numbers and equipped with advanced weapons and new technology.”

Military cooperation within the group escalated following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, with the launching of small-scale war games and the signing of an anti-terror convention among the members.

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