US Trying to Resist China's Growing Influence in Central Asia - Russian Agency
Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 12:00 CDT
Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax-AVN website
Moscow, 9 August: The United States plans to keep its military presence in Central Asia to resist steps by China to enhance its influence in the region, Russian Duma Defence Committee member Nikolay Bezborodov told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday [9 August].
"The USA is being guided by this objective as it builds its policy in Central Asia. It needs to do everything in its power to prevent the region and the world from being influenced by Beijing," Nikolay Bezborodov said.
"At the same time, Washington is using its old method that was tested during the confrontation with the Soviet Union: to surround the adversary with military bases. This pattern can clearly be seen today. There are American bases in Japan - in the south and southeast. There are bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan - in the west, southwest and northwest," he said.
"The USA will seek to expand its presence in Central Asia through all possible methods. It will use military methods against the countries that do not have solid support, such as Afghanistan or Iraq. Economic methods will be used in the areas where spheres of interest collide with other influential powers, such as Russia. The US has already offered Kyrgyzstan a substantial interest-free loan and an increase of the rent for the use of the Manas air base," he said.
The Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies under the Kyrgyz president, Valentin Bogatyrev, agrees that the United States is trying to preserve its military presence in Central Asia to resist China's growing influence in the region.
"The US needs the air force base in Manas to control the border with China and carry out reconnaissance operations, including by electronic means, rather than conduct the antiterrorist operation in Afghanistan," he said.
"The Manas air base does not make sense from the point of view of the Afghan problem. But its role tends to grow if we look at the matter from the point of view of US attempts to resist China's influence," Bogatyrev said.
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
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