Defense ministers from Russia and four Central Asian nations arrived in China Tuesday for talks with their Chinese counterpart on joint anti-terror efforts and other issues, official media and China's Defense Ministry said.

The meeting of defense ministers of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization will take place Wednesday in Beijing, said a spokeswoman with the ministry who would only give her surname, Chu.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the defense ministers would take up issues of regional security and the three forces of separatism, terrorism and extremism.

Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan was to meet with Ismail Isakov of Kyrgyzstan, Sergei Ivanov from Russia, Tajikistan's Sherali Khayrulloyev, Ruslan Mirzayev from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan's Bulat Darbekov, Xinhua said.

A string of one-on-one meetings between the ministers was also expected, Xinhua said, citing the Defense Ministry.

Max Pavlov, an administrative officer with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's secretariat in Beijing, said he had no information about the schedule or agenda for the meetings, which were solely organized by the ministry.

The organization, which got its informal start a decade ago but was formally launched five years ago, was founded to build confidence among the member nations and grapple with militant Islamic groups.

Its mission has expanded to include economic and political issues.