"The destiny of the American military bases in Central Asia cannot be settled at once and requires additional consultations with Washington," said ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. "In early July the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states issued a statement [in Kazakhstan's capital Astana] asking the U.S. to fix the final terms of the stay of the American military bases in the former Soviet republics in Central Asia."
He added that this statement was included in the final declaration by the countries having U.S. bases on their territory.
"The countries that helped the U.S. conduct the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan made this proposal," the spokesman said. "China regarded this issue with understanding."
"These countries think that time has passed since the end of the war in Afghanistan and the situation there has changed," Liu said, adding that it is time to stop this aid.
He also said that the U.S. side had intended to deploy military bases in Central Asia on a temporary basis.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) includes Russia, China and four Central Asian republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
U.S. troops were deployed to the Khanabad and Manas airbases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to allow U.S. planes to control the air space of Afghanistan and another crisis region, the Indian-Pakistani border.
From that vantage point, they can also control Central Asia as a whole, western China and South Siberia.
