Uzbek President Islam Karimov secured pledges on an energy deal and continued cooperation in the fight against Muslim separatists during a second day of talks with China's top leaders yesterday, as Beijing snubbed calls for more pressure on the hardline leader to accept an international probe into a bloody military crackdown.
Just two weeks after the May 13 massacre in which hundreds died, Beijing welcomed Karimov as an "old friend," rolling out the red carpet and granting a long meeting and dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Such treatment would be taboo for democracies, but China has long received and continues to want Karimov's assistance in suppressing separatists in its tense northwestern Xinjiang region near Uzbekistan, analysts say.
The fast-developing China also wants access to rich Uzbek oil and natural-gas resources.
China on Wednesday got promises of both, gaining pledges from Karimov to cooperate with China to fight terrorism -- a term both countries use to also refer to separatism.
They also signed an agreement to establish a US$600 million joint energy venture.
Hu repeated China's earlier support for Karimov's crackdown.
"China respects the way that the Uzbek people choose to develop their country and their efforts in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territory integrity," he said, according to the Xinhua news agency.
That support came despite calls by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Wednesday for the international community to increase pressure on Karimov to accept an international probe into the deadly clashes.
"We'll have to put up the pressure now," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Sweden. "The government in Uzbekistan, President Karimov really should accept the international inquiry ... They owe that to the international community."
Witnesses, human-rights groups and opposition activists claim the military fired upon a mostly unarmed crowd of civilians, killing as many as 1,000 people in Andizhan city and neighboring towns.
Karimov, who claims force was used as an emergency response to an attempt to overthrow the government, has said that 169 people died and that no civilian deaths were caused by the armed forces.
The UN has called for an international probe, backed by the EU and the US.
The Karimov government has repeatedly rejected such calls.
Moscow on Wednesday said it too did not support the calls for the probe.
Washington meanwhile said it was "concerned" over the Uzbek government's continued arrests of human-rights activists and journalists following the shooting.
Washington has "been quite clear that we're concerned about arrests that are going on in [the eastern Uzbek city of] Andizhan," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"We think the government is trying to silence activists and journalists through these arrests. And once again, freedom of speech and open access is necessary for a credible investigation," he said.
China's foreign ministry on Tuesday said the Andizhan events were "an internal issue," when asked if it supported an international investigation.
Karimov said that Uzbekistan shares China's position against terrorism, separatism and extremism, according to Xinhua.
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