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"Making his first trip abroad since a bloody crackdown on protesters, Uzbek President Islam Karimov left yesterday on a visit to China, which has provided a rare note of support for the authoritarian Central Asian leader.... China stresses the importance of maintaining stability in Central Asia through the China-backed Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose members include Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The group set up an anti-terrorism center in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, although the move is viewed as largely symbolic. China said ethnic Uighur separatists are fighting for an independent Islamic state in its western region of Xinjiang, about 120 miles from Andijan, and share Uzbekistan's Muslim religion and Turkic language roots. Foreign experts said Beijing is using the specter of terrorism as an excuse to tighten control there." AP via Seattle Times, May 25, 2005.