BEIJING: Uzbek President Islam Karimov met Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao Wednesday, vowing to step up the fight against terrorism as he sought backing for his crackdown against anti-government protestors. Analysts say Beijing is willing to grant him support because it needs his help to keep Muslim separatists from its northwestern Xinjiang region in check. The visit is the hardline president's first overseas trip since the May 13 violence in which Uzbek security forces killed between 500 and 1,000 people, many of them civilians, independent activists and rights groups say."I would like to stress once more that the fight against international terrorism, separatism and extremism is a priority direction for Uzbek policy," he said in an interview with the leading People's Daily. "Of course, only with the active participation of neighboring countries will it be possible to effectively guarantee the battle against cross-border threats." Karimov has blamed the unrest in Andijan on Islamic extremists and said in the interview that "at the moment, the fight against religious extremism has a deepened meaning". Facing international criticism from countries including the United States, he arrived in China with few other places to turn in his quest to restore his credibility at home. "You can't imagine any Western European or North American country inviting the Uzbekistan leader to visit at this time (but) it fits the pattern of China," said political analyst Paul Harris from Lingnan University in Hong Kong.