Seventeen civilians and four soldiers were killed and more than 800 people injured on Saturday in Bangkok in clashes between security forces and the anti-government 'red shirts', supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

That episode illustrated the stand taken by world politics researcher Chen Xiangyang of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in an opinion piece he wrote for the Xinhua-owned magazine Outlook that was carried yesterday by the major Chinese internet news portals. Chen sounded the alarm over growing destabilising elements along the border and urged the government to take pre-emptive measures to ensure regional security.

Last week, when protesters in Kyrgyzstan stormed the parliament building and thousands clashed with police in the streets, leaving 68 dead and an interim government formed by the opposition, China expressed a similar concern.

The concept of 'our neighbouring region comes first' must be strengthened in light of the complex geopolitical situation, Chen said. From Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in South Asia; Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines in Southeast Asia; Iraq and Iran in west Asia; to Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula and Japan in the east, each country is suffering from some form of political turmoil or 'democracy crisis', he said.

He grouped the problems into three categories: the cyclical 'agony' of mature democracies like Japan and India; the temporary pain faced by countries undergoing democratic transformation, such as countries in Central Asia; and the intrinsic instability of countries considered 'geopolitical fulcrums', such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar and North Korea. They all occupy strategic locations and are identified by the West as 'problem countries'.

Kyrgyzstan's attempt to copy Western-style democracy since 2005 'after the ['Tulip] revolution' instigated by the West' had resulted in it suffering from 'post-revolution symptoms', Chen said.

Other factors had led to political instability, he said. First, domestic politics polarise the people, which results in a 'democracy dilemma' in which the two camps are stuck in opposition. The democratisation of some countries also resulted in an imbalance between weak government and strong society.

'The strengthening of opposition and the blooming of non-governmental organisations and anti-government activities, street politics - all these weaken the power from the inside,' Chen said.

The global financial crisis has also sharpened social conflicts, he said, as have the 'three forces' of terrorism, extremism and ethnic separatism.

Chen said 'the interference of the West' also contributed to the chaos. Washington's shift of the anti-terrorist war to Afghanistan, as well as its use of opposition parties, NGOs and the internet to promote democracy in the regions bordering China 'has pushed many border countries into the 'the trap of democracy'. They now find themselves sinking in the 'chaos of democracy'.'

Chen warned that such political turmoil threatened China's border security and its plan to develop its poorer but resourceful western territories - including restive Xinjiang and Tibet. All this would pose new diplomatic challenges for China's policy of non-interference.