By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, April 27, 2006; Page A20
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BEIJING, April 26 -- China, Russia and four Central Asian nations announced Wednesday that they will hold joint anti-terrorism exercises next year, emphasizing a desire to balance U.S. military influence in Asia with stepped-up preparations of their own.

The regional security grouping, known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its activities have centered mainly on guarding against cross-border threats to internal stability, particularly from militant Islamic groups.

Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission, said the plans for joint drills demonstrate the group's growing role in maintaining security in the region, the official New China News Agency said. He vowed that defense ministers from the six nations will work together to combat what China calls the "three forces" -- separatism, terrorism and extremism -- that threaten to provoke unrest in the area.

In a communique, the six nations said next year's exercises will be held in Russia. They did not detail what activities were planned. But the Russian defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, told reporters here that the exercises will be designed by a group of military and anti-terrorism experts to enhance regional security coordination and are not aimed at any third country.

In China's case, the threat has mainly come from Uighur separatists in the heavily Muslim Xinjiang autonomous region of western China. Through common Turkic languages and history, the estimated 8 million Uighur people have maintained ties to their Central Asian neighbors even as the region increasingly is populated by China's Han majority. As a result, Beijing is eager to cultivate influence with the governments of those nations, lest Uighur militants find support and encouragement from across the borders.

China also has a growing stake in maintaining a stable environment in Central Asia, which is a source of oil and gas for the energy-hungry Chinese economy. Although Russia traditionally has played a leading role in the region -- the nations of Central Asia were Soviet satellites -- Chinese diplomacy and trade have established a significant presence in recent years. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was formally organized in 2001 under Chinese leadership.

The first joint anti-terrorism maneuvers by the group were held in 2003, although Uzbekistan did not participate. They included some exercises in the Xinjiang region.

Separately, China and Russia held bilateral military exercises last August. They were billed as a drill against ethnic unrest but also were interpreted as a demonstration that Beijing and Moscow want the United States to understand it is not the only guarantor of security in the region despite its dominant role since World War II.