VERONICA PEDROSA, CNN ANCHOR: Defense ministers from several Central Asian nations, Russia and China have signed a statement of opposition to U.S. plans to build a national missile defense system. The statement came at end of a meeting in Shanghai in which those countries formed a new strategic alliance. Lisa Rose Weaver reports from Beijing.</s>LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new strategic alliance, four Central Asian nations, China and Russia gathered to signal desire for new world order, one which opposes a U.S. plan for a missile defense program. Defense ministers signed a communiqu supporting the 1972 antiballistic treaty, which Washington wants to change, using its planned missile-defense program.</s>NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV, KAZAKHSTAN PRESIDENT: We all agree that the national missile defense program plan will have seriously negative effects on the global strategic balance and on world peace.</s>WEAVER: Emphasis was placed on regional security, signing a commitment to expand border disputes resolution to military cooperation. And they agreed to work together to combat regional terrorism and separatism. Kazakh's president put his finger on heart of the problem the summit is grabbing with: Islamic militants in Afghanistan.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Instability in Afghanistan is a source of terrorism and extremism. I want to use this opportunity to repeat the appeal of the central Asian states for a special session of the United Nations Security Council to discuss this issue.</s>WEAVER: Islamic insurgency is also growing rapidly in Uzbekistan which was admitted to the group, in part to help it deal with a chief concern in the region, the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan, increasingly bringing militancy across borders. Lisa Rose Weaver, CNN, Beijing.
Several Central Asian Nations, Russia and China Sign Statement of Opposition to U.S. National Missile Defense System