China and Central Asian nations fail to support Russia over Georgia

An interesting report from Associated Press says China and four Central Asian nations have rebuffed Russia's hopes of international support for its actions in Georgia. The Shanghai Co-operation Organization issued a statement today denouncing the use of force and calling for the respect of every country's territorial integrity.

The report later says:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had appealed to the Asian alliance, which is made up of China, Russia and four ex-Soviet Central Asian nations, for unanimous support of Moscow's response to Georgia's "aggression."

But the alliance, which was created in 2001 to improve regional co-ordination on terrorism and border security, opted to take a neutral position and urged all sides to resolve the conflict through "peaceful dialogue."

"The participants ... underscore the need for respect of the historical and cultural traditions of each country and each people, and for efforts aimed at preserving the unity of the state and its territorial integrity," the alliance's statement said.

None of the other alliance members joined Russia in recognizing the independence claims of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are Russia, China and four Central Asian states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Craig Murray recently described it as:

a dictators' club. Despite having several theoretical fields of activity, the main practical focus is entirely on security and, in the words of their declaration, combating "terrorism, separatism and extremism". That is code for repressing any moves to freedom in Central Asia.

Even so, the Central Asian states may have reason to be less keen than some Western left-wingers are on the concept of a "former Soviet space" where Russia may do as it pleases.