Combating what Beijing calls terrorism will top the agenda when the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which groups China and Russia with the Central Asian states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, meets Tuesday in Astana, Kyrgyzstan.

``Member states will take new measures to step up the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism,'' SCO secretary-general Zhang Deguang said. ``Deals signed will strengthen functions of counter-terrorism.''

For China, the group's mandate to combat those forces takes on new urgency this year, after the president of Kyrgyzstan was toppled in a popular revolt and the suppression of a rebellion in the eastern Uzbek town of Andizhan that killed about 500.

Both are worrying developments for a Beijing bent on maintaining internal stability, and fearful unrest will fuel separatist sentiment in Xinjiang.

``The Chinese can attract support by using the incidents to gain support for the SCO. They're trying to use those to make sure nothing like this happens in China,'' said Niklas Swanstrom, director of the Silk Road Studies Program at Sweden's Uppsala University.

China has been criticized for using what it sees as a terrorism threat for crackdowns on Muslims in Xinjiang, but Zhang made clear Beijing's allegiances are with the Uzbek government, saying human rights should not muddle such decisions.

But China's interest in the energy-rich region goes beyond ensuring stability on its borders to a desire to secure crude oil and gas to fuel the country's rapid economic growth.

China and Uzbekistan signed a US$600 million (HK$4.68 billion) oil venture deal in May, and a Kazakh oil pipeline with up to 20 million tonnes capacity is due to be completed by the end of the year.

China's desire to play a leading role in the organization whose founding it spearheaded is also part of a geopolitical struggle for influence in the region where the US presence has increased dramatically since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

REUTERS