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"...During a visit to China on July 10, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice maintained that the US would not withdraw from Afghanistan. “It is our understanding that the people of Afghanistan want and need the help of the US armed forces,” she declared at a Beijing press conference. Having established a footprint in Central Asia for the first time in history, US imperialism does not intend to leave.


On July 14, the chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Myers openly accused China and Russia of “trying to bully” the Central Asian states into calling for the closure of the American bases. Just who is bullying whom, however, was demonstrated this week, when US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld flew into Kyrgyzstan and rapidly extracted agreements for the continuation of the airbase in the country....


China has growing energy interests in Iran. Last October, China signed a long-term $70 billion agreement with Tehran for a 51 percent stake in Iran’s largest onshore oilfield. At the SCO summit, Iranian vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, declared his country could become the “bridge” that connected the SCO states to the resources of the Persian Gulf....


Alongside the economic linkage, China and Russia are strengthening their military ties. The two countries are preparing their first joint military excise, to be conducted in China, involving 80,000 troops. Russia intends to send warships, ground forces and long-range bombers. Although both sides have denied that the exercise is aimed at any country, there is little doubt that it is a response to the eruption of US aggression since 2001 and the growing uncertainties in world politics."