Eurasianet
August 16, 2010 - 11:33pm, by Joshua Kucera
Next month, about 1,000 People's Liberation Army soldiers will travel to Kazakhstan to participate in a Shanghai Cooperation Organization exercise, Peace Mission 2010. It will be the largest international military exercise China conducts this year.
What does China get out of it? A Chinese defense ministry spokesman said the exercise was intended "to demonstrate SCO member states' determination and capacity to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, showcase their mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation, and the shared wish to protect regional peace and stability as well as to boost common development and prosperity."
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has just released its annual report to Congress on what the Chinese military is up to, and here's what it says are the PLA's interests in Central Asia:
China’s primary interests in Central Asia are centered on building regional influence, obtaining natural resources and energy, and countering support for China’s Uighur separatists. Beijing has reached agreements with many Central Asian governments to build the infrastructure necessary to transport resources into western China, such as a pipeline that will stretch from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan into China. Beijing has also conducted bilateral and multilateral exercises with SCO member states to enhance China’s influence within the SCO and to build cohesive regional opposition to Uighur activities. Internal security forces in Xinjiang could be used in Central Asian contingencies, and army aviation and trans-regional mobility operations could be applied to deploy combat power rapidly to the region in a crisis.
You say "mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation," I say "building regional influence." You say "combat terrorism, separatism and extremism," I say "build cohesive regional opposition to Uighur activities." You say "boost common development and prosperity," I say "pipeline." Sounds like the Pentagon and the PLA are pretty much singing from the same sheet of music here.
