Forced Off The Fence

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Then there's the question of Central Asia. China is most likely to feel the impact of a newly assertive Russia in the six nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which was founded in 2001 to curb U.S. influence in the region. (The other members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan are observers.) China and Russia have used the SCO to help resolve border disputes, organize joint military exercises and stimulate the creation of energy and transportation infrastructure. China relies on the Central Asian states for oil (especially Kazakhstan) and to fight terrorism by suppressing Islamist politics that could gather support in Xinjiang. If these former Soviet republics absorb the lesson of Georgia by showing greater compliance to Moscow, China could find itself stuck in an alliance being pushed in directions that unnerve its other allies.

Putin could signal his next move soon. Hu risks being upstaged by Putin yet again, this time at the August 28 SCO summit in Tajikistan. World leaders will scrutinize the SCO's final communiqué carefully for signs that Russia is trying to push the seven-year-old group in a more belligerent, anti-American direction. Hu is a keen Ping-Pong player who may find himself out-wrestled by Putin, a judo champ who's shown he's unlikely to offer a sportsmanlike truce or stick to a polite back-and-forth across the table.

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Posted By: pilipino @ 08/29/2008 4:29:38 AM

The author of this article is no China expert. "Blessed by history . . ." Britain is the prime candidate who should be stripped of its permanent seat at he SC. Why? Here's why. 1st, Western civilization is already over- represented by USA & France. 2nd, Britain is English speaking which the USA is also. 3rd, Britain just hangs on to the coattails of the Americans & does not have an independent foreign policy.

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Posted By: ChristianAmerican @ 08/27/2008 4:54:11 PM

"Blessed by history with permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council" This is a misleading and arrogant statement. The one with a brain in the world questions the permanent seat of China, unlike Britain and France. Recent decisions by France and Britain to maintain and renew nuclear submarines is partly due to a fear of losing the permanent membership. China and USA and Russia are justfied their presence in the security council by their econmic size, ICBMs and landmass.
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Posted By: nawawimohamad @ 08/27/2008 12:46:16 AM

The West/US has apparently been successful in manipulating China to believe that it is now a successful giant to be respected. China has even been acknowledged to be the other "superpower".The West has given all praises and glad tidings to the Chinese hoping that China will be on their side when the West is facing Russia. However China throughout history has always have a mistrust towards the West and even until now the mistrust is there. On the other hand China is too dependent on the West for its economy. Infact its economy although apparently seems to be in good shape is actually very fragile. China will have to remain openly neutral or slightly bent towards the West, but this will not stop it from having a serious affair with Russia.