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Three Forces Gang Up in Central Aisa Liu Gengcen
Islamic
extremists,ethnic separatists and international terrorists in Central Asia
have combined with each other to constitute a threat to this region’s
security and stability. After
the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Islam in Central Asia went through two
stages. The period from 1991 to 1996 saw a comprehensive rejuvenation. After
1997, with rejuvenated Islam, particularly Taliban in Afghanistan, getting
the upper hand, Islamic extremist forces began to manifest themselves and
launched challenges to the regimes of secular countries. At the same time,
the tendency of Islamic forces to combine with ethnic separatists and international
terrorists appeared. In recent years, violent actions launched by religious
extremist forces have continuously taken place in the Central Asian
countries. At
present, Islamic extremist activities in Central Asia have the features: (1)
Their scale has expanded from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan, indicating their growth from a small into a large force and from
an individual point to a wider area. They have ties with Afghan and Chechen
Islamic extremist forces, which give the movement an international character.
(2) The religious extremists have adopted more and more violent means,
attacking government officials, including judicial personnel. Their purpose
is to usurp political power. (3) The extremists gather the majority of their
supporters from the young, which is different from other religions where
middle-aged and elderly people are the majoirty of devout believers. (4)
Islamic extremist forces tend to form contacts with anti-government factions
and ethnic separatist forces in their own countries and with international
terrorists. Influencing the Geopolitical Pattern
The
furious activities of religious extremist forces have already impacted
political stability and economic development in the Central Asian region and,
at the same time, caused a slight change in the geopolitical situation. The
long civil war caused by the Islamic
Renaissance Party of Tajikistan has led to worries in other Central Asian
countries. For the past two or three years, incidents in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
have created a tense atmosphere in these two countries. At present, the
expansion of religious extremist forces and their increasingly violent
criminal activities threaten regional security, peace and stability. More than five years of civil war in Tajikistan have caused the deaths of more than 60,000 people, seen 800,000 people turned into refugees, and caused economic losses of US$10 billion. The act of kidnapping hostages in |
Kyrgyzstan has made
more than 5,000 refugees homeless. In addition, the strict preventive
measures taken by some Central Asian countries have influenced foreign
investment and regular international exchanges.
Subtle Change in Geopolitics
Uzbekistan,
which wanted to move out of Russia’s shadow and gravitated towards the West
for a long period, has used the opportunity of jointly dealing with religious
extremist forces to renew close ties with Russia. In October 1998,
Uzbekistan, Russia and Tajikistan united to attack religious extremism. In November
1999 and in April of this year the five regional members of the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS), including Russia, held joint military exercises
in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan respectively. While
attacking religious extremist forces, the Central Asian countries have both
cooperated and quarreled. Uzbekistan expressed dissatisfaction with
Tajikistan over insufficiently suppressing bandits, and blockaded it borders
with Kazakhastan and Kyrgyzstan for the sake of its own security. This has
influenced normal economic exchange, and aroused displeasure from Kazakhstan.
In addition, Turkey refused to extredite Uzbek terrorists to Uzbekistan. The
Uzbek Government recalled its students from Turkey and closed down a
Turkish-run school in Uzbekistan in portest. Relations betwen Uzbekistan and
Turkey are tense. Cooperation Between China and Central Asia China’s
northwestern region is adjacent to Central Asia. If the activities of
religious extremist forces in Central Asia are not effectively contained and
if the Islamic forces in Afghanistan and Chechnya continue to infiltrate into
Central Asia, ‘‘green’’ (Ismalic) extremist forces in this region will surely
grow bolder. This would not only severely threaten peace and stability in
this region, but also threaten political stability and economic devlopment in
northwest China. In
recent years, the Chinese and Central Asian governments have paid great deal
of attention to the activities of religious extremist forces, ethnic
separatists and international terrorists and reached a consensus to oppose
these three gangs. The Dushanbe Statement
issued by the fifth summit of the ‘‘Shanghai Five’’ in July this year
and the joint statement issued by the two sides when President Jiang Zemin
visited Turkemenistan reafirmed the commitment to take practical measures to
effectively attack these three gangs. Through the joint efforts of China, the
Central Asian countries and the CIS countries, these three gangs will be
effectively contained. [ Source
: Beijing Review ] Web
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