ALMATY. Sept 16 (Interfax-Kazakhstan) - China has to play a more active role in the global anti-terrorist operation and expand ties with Central Asian countries in a bid to ensure security, Maulen Ashimbayev, who heads the Presidential Institute for Strategic Studies, said.
He spoke at a "round table" on "China's Geopolitical Prospects in Central Asia."
"None of Central Asia's regional security systems would be effective and promising without China's active involvement," he noted. Ashimbayev added that stronger relations with China are crucial to Central Asia's strategic interests.
He said that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) is also vital for protecting Chinese interests in the region. "The organization's potential, including in its crackdown on extremism, terrorism, drug- trafficking and illegal migration, has so far not been used in full," he said.