Leaders of China, Russia and four Central Asian states launched a new regional organization today to combat Islamic militancy and boost trade and investment among the resource-rich neighbors.
Five years after its modest start as body to broker border disputes, the Shanghai Five -- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- welcomed new member Uzbekistan and renamed itself the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Chinese President Mr Jiang Zemin said the "six good neighbors" signed an agreement to fight ethnic and religious militancy while promoting trade and investment in an area whose vast oil reserves have revived international competition for influence.
"The signing of the Shanghai Pact has laid the legal foundation for jointly cracking down on terrorism, separatism and extremism and reflects the firm determination of the six states on safeguarding regional security," Mr Jiang said.
An unspoken aim of the new body's two strongest members, China and Russia, is to stem growing US influence in the region, analysts say.
The United States is already the largest foreign investor in Kazakhstan's oil and gas industries and has provided millions of dollars in military aid to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Mr Jiang and Russian counterpart Mr Vladimir Putin met in Shanghai yesterday to kick off the summit just days before the Russian President is due to meet Bush in Slovenia.
They stressed shared opposition to US plans to build a national missile defense (NMD) system.
But Mr Jiang's meeting with President Putin - the first of three planned for this year - also struck a conciliatory note on China-US relations, damaged by the spy plane dispute in April.
Mr Jiang called for a "constructive" relationship with Washington, according to Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov.
The chief concern of most member states is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which has led armed incursions across the region over the last two years in an attempt to create an independent Islamic state.