Moscow-Beijing axis to reduce US influence in Asia
Beijing (AsiaNews) - Vladimir Putin, on a state visit to Beijing, and Hu Jintao, host of the summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), a security and development body, have been busy with contracts, joint statements on Syria and Iran, loans and strategic co-operations. Meanwhile, the United States criticises both Moscow and Beijing for the position on Assad and announces plans to station 60 per cent of its naval forces in the Asia-Pacific region.
Hu and Putin agreed yesterday in Beijing to increase trade to US$ 200 billion by 2020 from US$ 83.5 billion in 2011. They also saw the signing of 12 agreements, including the creation of a US$ 4 billion joint investment fund with each country committing a billion, raising additional money from third-party international investors.
The two leaders also discussed North Africa, the Korean Peninsula and Iran's nuclear programme, expressing their support for the Annan plan and their joint opposition to foreign intervention in Syria.
Russia and China have always opposed sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, opting instead for diplomacy.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attend the summit and will meet Putin.
Another round of talks about Iran's atomic program will take place in Moscow on 18-19 June, the third attempt in three months to address global concerns that the Persian Gulf state is developing atomic weapons. Iran has said its nuclear enrichment programme is for peaceful purposes.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is also at the SCO summit. NATO withdrawal is on the agenda.
"As the number of conflicts grows, our coordination and dialogue becomes closer," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Russia and China are staunch supporters of a multi-polar world and they try to push all system of the international relations toward multipolar world."
Established in 2001 to increase security and counter terrorism (especially Islamic), the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation has taken on an economic role. In addition to China and Russia, its members include four Central Asian nations (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan).
Within SCO, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan enjoy observer status whilst Belarus and Sri Lanka are partners. Afghanistan and Turkey are in attendance, respectively as observer and partner.
Yesterday, China strengthened its economic relations with Tajikistan with a deal on oil and gas exploration, plus a US$ 50 million loan to build a road project on the Pamir. A Chinese company already exploiting a gold mine was invited to explore for copper.
Tajikistan, a mainly Muslim country of 7.5 million people, is the poorest of 15 former Soviet states. Its economy relies heavily on cotton and aluminium exports, as well as remittances from nearly 1 million migrant workers.
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