Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Summit. It is the first time an Afghan leader attends this annual event, designed to be a counterweight to Western influence in the region.<br /><br />China and the other Central Asian leaders have expressed concerns over the security vaccuum that will be created by the departure of Western forces in 2014. <br /><br />Having watched NATO sustain a war that has cost billions of dollars and lasted more than a decade, China and Russia are aware of the dangers of becoming too involved on Afghan soil.<br /><br />But since China is eager to maintain good ties with Afghanistan, whose territory contains an estimated 1 trillion dollars in minerals, the country will likely be made a regular guest to this annual summit. <br /><br />Al Jazeera's Steve Chao reports from Hong Kong
