China's official Xinhua news agency says the April 2005 pact was ratified by the National People's Congress (parliament) on August 27.
The agency says the China-Pakistan pact completes another treaty Beijing signed in 2001 with four member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
China sees separatism in its predominantly Muslim Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as a serious threat to its stability.
On August 27, China and Kazakhstan wrapped up a three-day security exercise near the Xinjiang city of Yining, also known as Gulja.
Xinhua says the drill "is a concrete illustration of the SCO agreement to fight terrorism, separatism, and extremism."
(Xinhua)
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Soldiers conducting the first-ever SCO joint antiterrorism exercises, held in Kazakhstan in August 2003 (TASS)
NATO'S EVIL TWIN? At an August 3 briefing at RFE/RL's Washington,D.C., office, Central Asia experts Richard Weitz and Daniel Kimmage discussed the emergence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a multilateral body that comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. In addition, Iran, Pakistan, Mongolia, and Afghanistan have observer status in the organization.
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