U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rise used the events to call for radical political reforms, whereas Beijing called on stability to be maintained. Refraining from the issue of civilian casualties, China reprints Tashkent's explanations, while the Americans focus on casualties and refuse to notice the involvement of Islamic forces in the revolt.
The latest statements by American politicians prompt the conclusion that Washington does not fear destabilization in the region but views it as an instrument offered by history. But Beijing is talking of the imperative need to maintain order in Central Asia, because any unrest in the region strikes back at Chinese interests, as was the case in Kyrgyzstan where the crowds looted shops and stores, and Chinese outdoor markets.
Chinese suffered from the actions of Islamic extremists in Central Asia before the events in Kyrgyzstan. There is an anti-China underground in the region that includes Chinese from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR). In fact, these are cells of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement that operates in the XUAR (the UN put it on the list of terrorist organizations). That movement closely cooperated with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) to the point that they had common training camps in Afghanistan. Washington views the East Turkestan and IMU Islamic extremists as possible terrorists, but is not in a hurry to admit the elements of IMU in Uzbekistan's events.
Many forces are eyeing Central Asia's resources, above all energy, experts say. Beijing has opted for cooperation with the current regimes and Russia, which is traditionally influential in the region, while Washington is combining the development of relations with the traditional elite with a search for "new forces."
