Shanghai shuts down ahead of 'Five' summit

The Shanghai Five is expected to admit a sixth member, Uzbekistan

SHANGHAI, China -- High-security concerns have led Chinese authorities to shut down major roads in Shanghai, ahead of a summit of Russian, Chinese and Central Asian leaders starting Friday.

Organizers of the so-called Shanghai Five summit in China's financial center would not even reveal the venue of the two-day meeting, which will focus on curbing Islamic separatism and drug smuggling along territorial borders, with particular focus on Afghanistan.

President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet during the summit -- which will group China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- to forge a stronger alliance balancing U.S. influence in Central Asia states.

"In Shanghai we are going to sign a Shanghai convention to combat terrorism, extremism, separatism . . . (which) continue to pose threats to the region," Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov said.

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Set up in 1996 to resolve lingering Sino-Soviet border disputes, the Shanghai Five are also expected to admit Uzbekistan as a new member.

Uzbekistan's admission emphasises a new focus on combating Islamic militants, amid armed incursions by the separatist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan across the region over the last two years.

China worries such unrest would fuel a separatist movement in its northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Muslim radicals from the Uighur ethnic minority there have carried out bomb attacks and murdered government officials.

Afghanistan a threat

Uzbekistan accuses Afghanistan of funding Islamic militants pouring into its territory and Kyrgyzstan over the last two summers, in the brief period when mountain passes are free from snow.

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have been strengthening their armies to fight off possible separatist incursions this summer.

Neighboring Kazakhstan has set up a special military district on its southern border.

While some see the rebel incursions as having a religious and political basis, others say the armed groups are simply drug traffickers seeking control over the highly lucrative heroin trading routes to Europe.

Neighboring Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, is seen as one of the main sources of trouble.

"We agreed that the main source of threats is Afghanistan. There is a whole bunch of things: drugs, illegal arms trade, illegal migration, organised crime, extremism and terrorism of different kinds," Idrisov said.

"Generally, as of last year, 85 percent of the production of poppy in Afghanistan was transited through our region."

"Violence is increasing because drugs entail violence, organized crime, illegal migration, different other criminal acts," he said.

Anti-U.S. sentiment

The meeting between Jiang and Putin will be the first of three planned this year toward building a strategic alliance against Islamic extremism and certain U.S. policies.

Member states are expected to voice opposition to U.S. plans to build a new missile defense system.

Analysts say that Beijing and Moscow are also concerned about growing U.S. influence on the oil-rich Central Asian states.

The United States is already the largest investor in Kazakhstan's oil and gas industries.

Washington has also provided millions in military aid to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Analsyst added that China's recent efforts to boost military aid to Kyrgyzstan and set up an anti-terrorism center in the capital Bishkek are meant to boost its profile in the region.

Reuters contributed to this report.