SCO week on CCTV9
- Thread starter FreeAsia2000
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FreeAsia2000 said:
Well, obviously. It's a way for the state media to say that China's at the centre of international affairs, has lots of allies in the region, etc. Because it's certainly not the case that the SCO's being overhyped, or anything.
The_Zergling
Junior Member
Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is SCO anyway?
Shanghai cooperation group
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization which was founded on June 14, 2001 by leaders of the People's Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.
Taken from wikipedia
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization which was founded on June 14, 2001 by leaders of the People's Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.
Taken from wikipedia
Since I had already posted these in CET.
Iran and the 'OPEC with bombs'
By Daniel Kimmage
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) celebrates its fifth anniversary with a summit of member states' leaders in Shanghai on Thursday.
Last year's summit, in Kazakhstan, was notable for a declaration asking members of the "anti-terrorist coalition" to provide a time frame for the withdrawal of military forces from SCO territory. The SCO comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
It was a pointed reference to US military bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Only two weeks later, Uzbekistan evicted the United States from its Karshi-Khanabad air base.
This year, the summit will open against a backdrop of reports that Iran, which currently holds observer status in the SCO (along with India, Mongolia and Pakistan), is looking to become a full-fledged member. India has sent its influential oil minister, Murli Deora.
'OPEC with bombs'
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mohammadi set the speculation rippling in April when he said that Iran hoped to join the SCO in the summer. The foreign ministers of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan subsequently played down the possibility, citing a lack of formal mechanisms to accommodate new members.
But the gambit, coming in the context of Iran's strained relations with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, drew notice. The Washington Times quoted David Wall, professor at the University of Cambridge's East Asia Institute, as saying that "an expanded SCO would control a large part of the world's oil and gas reserves and [a] nuclear arsenal. It would essentially be an OPEC [Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries] with bombs."
As it emerged that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad would attend the SCO summit in Shanghai for a one-on-one meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on the sidelines, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also addressed the issue of Iran's potential membership of the organization, the New York Times reported on June 4.
Singling out Iran, Rumsfeld remarked that it was "passing strange that one would want to bring into an organization that says it is against terrorism one of the leading terrorist nations in the world".
SCO secretary general Zhang Deguang quickly retorted, Associated Press reported on June 7, firing back: "We cannot abide by other countries calling our observer nations sponsors of terror. We would not have invited them if we believed they sponsored terror."
Mutual support
Three points follow from the reactions to the SCO's Iranian gambit. First, the SCO represents an approach to multilateral relations and an understanding of terrorism that do not, in fact, define Iran as a sponsor of terror and would permit Iran's accession. Second, it is unlikely that Iran will join the SCO in the near future. And third, even if Iran joined, the SCO would have a long way to go before becoming a genuine "OPEC with bombs".
The SCO's charter helps to explain why member states - primarily China and Russia - do not consider Iran a sponsor of terrorism. While the charter's "aims and objections" list "joint opposition to terrorism, separatism and extremism in all their manifestations", its first principle is "mutual respect for states' sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and the sanctity of borders, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, the non-use of force or the threat of force in international relations, and renunciation of unilateral military superiority in contiguous areas".
The crux of the matter is that, for SCO member states, "terrorism, separatism and extremism" are viewed not as distinct abstract phenomena with global relevance to be dealt with globally, but rather as a single phenomenon that is locally defined by the ruling elite and left to sovereign states to combat by any means they see fit.
For Russia, it is Chechen separatism; for China, Uighur "splittism"; for Uzbekistan, religious extremism. The task of SCO member states is to support one another as they combat perceived threats to existing power relations, as Russia and China did when Uzbekistan labeled May 2005 unrest in Andijon "terrorism" and crushed it with maximum force.
It is the locally bounded definition of terrorism that leads SCO member states to reject the labeling of Iran as a sponsor of terror, and the globally defined emphasis on sovereignty and non-interference that makes them amenable to granting Iran membership.
Iran does not support Chechen separatists, Uighur "splittists", or Uzbek "religious extremists". The SCO's understanding of terrorism is not based on globally applied principles - hence the inclusion of the fight against "terrorism, extremism and separatism" in the charter's aims and objectives. So if Iran chooses to support individuals and groups it defines as "legitimate resistance" in a theater outside the SCO region, that is Iran's business.
But absolute sovereignty and non-interference are global principles to the SCO (hence their inclusion in the charter's principles), which are thus sympathetic to Tehran's plight as, in their view, a sovereign state that is the target of outside interference.
Tehran overreaching
That said, Iran remains an unlikely candidate for full membership in the SCO. The possibility of Iranian membership has raised the organization's profile on the international arena. But actual Iranian membership could significantly reduce the leeway that leading members China and Russia have until now enjoyed in the diplomatic jockeying over Iran's nuclear program.
As Yevgeny Morozov put it in a June 8 commentary on TCSDaily, Moscow and Beijing don't want to be responsible for "Iran's loony statements about Israel or its nuclear program". RIA-Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev made a similar point in an Outside View opinion piece for United Press International on June 8. Kosyrev argued that Iran "will not join in the foreseeable future" because the SCO is having trouble coping with a flood of new initiatives and needs to put its current house in order before expanding.
Yet even if Iran were to join the SCO, would it strengthen or weaken the organization? Today, the solid common ground in the SCO is its emphasis on non-interference - a not-so-subtle expression of unhappiness with Western cajoling on rights and reforms. Beyond that, individual members have their own concerns. For Central Asian governments, any forum that allows them to balance Chinese and Russian interests holds obvious attraction.
For Beijing, the primary significance of the SCO appears to be as a vehicle for managing China's growing commercial and energy interests in Central Asia. For Moscow, it is an eastward-looking body that goes beyond the borders of formerly Soviet space.
Furthermore, the SCO's four Central Asian members share numerous unsettled scores of their own. And specific Russian and Chinese interests in the region have the potential to diverge significantly, especially if China starts pushing for expanded access to Central Asian energy resources currently exported through Russia.
On the military front, while Russia and China held war games in August under the SCO aegis and the organization plans counter-terrorism exercises in Russia next year, Russia still handles the bulk of its military involvement in Central Asia through the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Iran surely shares the SCO's particular understanding of non-interference. But beyond this common ground, it has a host of its own concerns - most of them bound up with the politics of the Middle East, not Central Asia. It is difficult to see how the addition of those concerns to the SCO's already disparate mix of Chinese, Russian, and Central Asian interests would lend the organization greater cohesion or clout.
Nevertheless, the SCO represents two tendencies that are likely to become increasingly pronounced in international affairs. The first is the natural resistance of entrenched domestic elites to outside pressures that they perceive as a threat to their hold on power. The second is a desire to turn that common ground into a platform for greater global influence in the face of what the secondary and tertiary powers see as the primary power in the current world order.
As an expression of these rising tendencies, the SCO is noteworthy whether it expands or contracts.
Daniel Kimmage is the Central Asia regional analyst with RFE/RL Online and editor of the "RFE/RL Central Asia Report".
Resurgent Russia aims for the summit
By M K Bhadrakumar
Two telephone calls from President George W Bush to President Vladimir Putin within the five days from May 30 to June 5, and a visit by Henry Kissinger, the ace US statesman of realpolitik, to the Russian leader's residence at Novo Ogaryovo in the Moscow suburbs last Wednesday, and the prospects of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in St Petersburg next month suddenly brightened. [1]
All of Europe will be keenly watching the outcome of this latest Russian-US tango - most likely the Bush administration's last major act in addressing where exactly Putin's Russia belongs in the international system.
At the core of it lie the profound issues of energy security in the 21st century. Simply put, Russia has the capacity to supply the energy, but the West must reciprocate by granting Russia in political terms what has been denied to it in the past 15 years - integration with the Western world.
The prickliness in Russian-US relations in recent weeks suggests that Washington will somehow deny Putin the finest hour arguably of his entire presidency, namely a successful hosting of the G8 summit on July 15. Russia regards the summit as an acknowledgment of its role in the first league of world powers.
Putin's meeting with Kissinger took place two days after Bush made his second successive phone call to Moscow, during which, according to a Kremlin press statement, the "two leaders [Putin and Bush] followed on from their telephone conversation last week [May 30], discussing issues related to the preparations for the G8 summit in St Petersburg and the agenda for the Russia-US summit that will take place at the same period".
Putin told Kissinger that despite the "nuances" in Russian-US ties, the relationship on the whole was changing for the better. Putin referred to the Kissinger era in the Cold War period (read the "Kissingerian" vision of "balance of interests"), and recalled that it led to a "successful development" of relations between the two superpowers. Putin went on to take note of the Bush administration's interest in relations with Russia "first and foremost in the energy sector".
Putin observed, "Our [Russian-US] points of view do not always coincide, but we understand each other and find compromises. The latest steps we took concerning Iran bear witness to this." Putin spoke with deliberation, since Kissinger "maintains relations with many American public organizations and with the present administration".
Later, talking to the media, Kissinger said he received a "very positive feeling" that "significant opportunities" lay ahead for Russian-US cooperation and that progress would be made in "many areas" at the July summit.
Distancing himself from US Vice President Dick Cheney's recent condemnation of the Kremlin's record on liberal democracy, Kissinger commented, "One must think about the evolution that takes place in any country. I have a very positive feeling regarding the evolution that is taking place in Russia."
He stressed that Russia's claim to G8 membership was never in doubt, "I participated in establishing the G8 [then the Group of Six] in 1975. The issues that we discuss today are better solved thanks to Russia's participation than those that we discussed in 1975." Since the Kissinger mission to Moscow, the pace of events has significantly quickened.
The Kremlin appears to be already so engrossed in the unexpected turn of events that it would seem to have forgotten that yet another summit is just around the corner, this Thursday - the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing.
Moscow's "multi-vector" approach in foreign policy would dictate that it must embrace both the G8 and the SCO. But Moscow has priorities. The day after Bush's second phone call to Putin on June 5, powerful Kremlin figure, Deputy Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, signaled to Washington, "It is obvious to me that the Russian state should profess to be mainly part of Europe."
He continued, "It does not mean that we should forget about our ties with other regions, but historically we are above all a European country. Any future Russian leader should remember this." Four days after Medvedev spoke, top Kremlin adviser Sergei Prikhodko elaborated that Moscow expected "serious signals for the further deepening of the Russian-American partnership" when Putin meets with Bush at the G8 summit.
Conceivably, there are three "serious signals" that Moscow would expect. First, over energy security. Second, Russia's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Third, acknowledgement of Russia as a full-fledged member of the G8 - which means making a complete success of the St Petersburg summit.
The meeting of the finance ministers of the G8 in St Petersburg last Saturday, therefore, aroused interest. Its focus was indeed on energy security. Washington and Moscow would seem to have worked hard to evolve a framework of understanding. The joint communique said:
We discussed the current situation in the energy markets and the risks that high oil prices pose for the global economy going forward. We call for comprehensive action by both energy producing and energy consuming countries to facilitate investment in the energy sector, improve energy efficiency, including through national initiatives, and promote greater transparency and reliability in energy-market data, including through development of a global common standard for reporting oil reserves. We recognize the importance of the principles of the Energy Charter, of diversification of energy markets and supply sources, and of strengthened energy response cooperation in ensuring energy security.
Summing up, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin signaled Moscow's satisfaction. He said "St Petersburg is not only a window to Europe but to the whole world" and highlighted Russia's "integral role in the world economy". It appears that the pressure on Russia to ratify the Energy Charter is easing.
For the Kremlin, the all-consuming concern in the weeks ahead will be to carry forward the momentum created at the G8 finance ministers' meeting. The negotiations that lie ahead must grapple with tough questions - Russia's insistence on its rights to acquire property in utilities, pipelines, natural-gas facilities and other infrastructure in the United States and Europe, and Russia's willingness to give matching access for Western companies to the Russian energy industry.
The US only recently rebuffed a relatively modest attempt by China to acquire UNOCAL. In comparison, Russia's Gazprom hopes to acquire stakes on the US east coast in pipelines and liquefied-natural-gas conversion facilities involving massive investments.
In essence, Gazprom is looking for a variant of its swapping of assets with Germany in the North Sea Gas Pipeline project. (German companies were given shares in the Russian gas fields in return for Gazprom gaining access to energy production and transmission in Germany.)
Moscow has been holding back a decision on the Shtokman gas fields in the Barents Sea for which Chevron and ExxonMobil have been short-listed. Naturally, the current negotiations involve the highest levels of leadership in Moscow, Washington and the European capitals.
Speaking to the media after the G8 finance ministers' meeting, US Treasury Secretary John Snow implied that Washington was no longer making an issue of Russia's "reliability" as a partner in energy cooperation. Second, Snow said Russia could well join the WTO before the G8 summit. (US Trade Representative Susan Schwab commented separately in Washington last Friday that Russia's WTO membership was "not beyond the realms of possibility".)
In a sign of Russia's new role within the G8, Kudrin announced that Russia would cancel US$700 million in debt owed by poor countries, of which $250 million would be diverted to poverty-reduction projects under an agreement with the World Bank. At a press conference in St Petersburg on Friday, World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz described it as a "clear demonstration of the role that Russia started to play as an emerging donor - I would say as a new partner".
And don't forget the SCO ...
With so much at stake, and the stars shining on the big event in St Petersburg, Russia is approaching the SCO summit gently. Wisdom and prudence dictate that US sensitivities must be borne in mind. The US views the SCO with distaste. (It comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.)
The SCO has turned down a US request for observer status, and then proceeded to demand a timeline for vacation of US troops from Central Asia. The SCO provided safe haven for Uzbekistan when it came under US pressure for "regime change". The SCO comprehensively discredited the color revolutions in Central Asia.
By its sheer presence, the SCO challenges the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) claim to be the only viable security organization with a reach in Central Asia. Most important, the US suspected that the SCO acted as a Russia-China condominium for countering its influence in the region. There was a time when the US felt the SCO would ultimately wither away, but on the contrary, it is gaining traction.
With all these factors at work, Moscow wouldn't provoke Washington needlessly. Indeed, Putin's policy has often been compared to the Russian policy in the 1890s led by finance minister (and the first constitutional prime minister of the Russian Empire under Czar Nicholas II) Count Sergei Witte - strong internal economic development through state-driven liberalization, and steering clear of any form of foreign-policy adventures.
The "Witte system" will not root for Iran's membership of the SCO at this juncture. Washington knows it too. Thus when ambiguities crept in recently, a US State Department spokesman said Washington would ask Moscow for an "explanation" for the invitation extended to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to attend the SCO summit in Shanghai.
Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, two of Russia's closest allies, spoke up at the SCO foreign ministers' meeting in Beijing last month against the idea of the SCO adding new members. Moscow of course took a back seat.
Besides, from the Russian perspective, the SCO summit is taking place in vastly changed circumstances. Russia had a desperate need of the SCO last year, when the specter of "color revolutions" was haunting the region. Last year's summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, took place against the backdrop of the "Tulip Revolution" in Kyrgyzstan and the uprising in Andizhan, Uzbekistan. The helping hand from Beijing within the SCO framework helped Moscow counter US policies.
But Russia today finds itself in a far more comfortable position. True, Central Asian states have their own "multi-vector" approach to foreign relations. All the same, the US is yet to give a creative thrust to its Central Asia policy. Meanwhile, Russia's dominant influence prevails in the region.
Russia, therefore, wouldn't expect any "sensations" at the SCO summit. Russia would rather ponder the SCO's future trajectory. Certainly, the SCO is not to develop into a full-fledged military bloc - an "oriental NATO". Russia prefers the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) [2] to be the main vehicle of collective security in the region.
The CSTO is predictable - and Russia's leadership role in it. The CSTO charter grants Russia the right to be consulted over any politico-military decisions by the Central Asian states. At the same time, Russia wouldn't be averse to the CSTO having a "partnership network" with the SCO. In fact, the SCO might as well forge partnership networks of multilateral associations in Asia and the Pacific regions rather than add new members.
The point is, for Russia at the present juncture, the SCO is in a "standby" mode. A successful G8 summit is the top priority. Having said that, SCO has a centrality in Russian policies, being the only forum within which Russia works with China on issues of common concern and shared interests in the Central Asian region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a discussion in the Russian parliament last Wednesday that there were issues in Russia's bilateral relations with China that were "real" and that "cause concern", but Russia views them in perspective as "a very small part of the general picture of our relations with China". He said China's importance for Russia "by far transcends any individual aspect of our living side by side as neighbors".
Lavrov stated, "They [the Chinese] are our strategic partner. China is a fast-growing power, which undoubtedly has a great future ... It is in our vital interest to live in friendship and cooperation with our great neighbor ... Having said that, I agree that this implies mutual cooperation, mutual regard for each other's interests and mutual respect."
Thus Russia will continue to view the SCO as a forum of vital importance in regional cooperation with China - an exclusive forum that even lends credence to Russian aspirations of acting as a "Eurasian bridge" between the West and China.
Notes
1. The G8 comprises the members of the Group of Seven (G7) and Russia. The G7 members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, which together account for about two-thirds of the world's economic output. Russia officially became the eighth member of the G8 at the 1997 Denver, Colorado, "Summit of the Eight". But while Russia is a G8 member, it does not participate in financial and economic discussions, which continue to be conducted by the G7. Russia has the G8's smallest economy.
2. The Collective Security Treaty Organization comprises Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The members are not allowed to join other military alliances or other groups of states, while an aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all.
M K Bhadrakumar served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for more than 29 years, with postings including ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-98) and to Turkey (1998-2001).
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
SHANGHAI: Heads of state from the six-nation Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) will meet today to chart a path for the group's future, after President Hu Jintao yesterday hosted a series of commemorative activities and meetings.
The one-day SCO summit, to be held at the Shanghai International Convention Centre, coincides with the fifth anniversary of the organization's founding on June 15, 2001 and the 10th of its prototype the Shanghai Five mechanism.
While meeting his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmonov yesterday afternoon, Hu said the summit is of great significance.
"With joint efforts of each party, I believe the summit will achieve its goal of strengthening mutual trust, promoting unity and deepening co-operation," he said.
The regional body grouping China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is the first international organization with its headquarters in China.
As the annual SCO summit returns to its birthplace, the six presidents will review the organization's five-year achievements, outline objectives for future co-operation, and exchange views on major international and regional issues.
The summit is also expected to pass a declaration and endorse dozens of documents that promote stronger bilateral and multilateral co-operation in a wide range of sectors.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and leaders of four SCO observer countries Mongolia, Iran, India and Pakistan will also be present at the summit.
Ahead of what is called a "milestone" meeting, Hu, along with his five foreign counterparts, attended a tree-planting ceremony in the Xijiao State Guest Hotel yesterday afternoon.
With the help of six children, they planted a white magnolia tree Shanghai's city flower noted for its splendid blossoms in early spring before inaugurating a monument in commemoration of the event.
Because magnolia trees can live for as long as 1,000 years, it is said the tree signifies the vitality of the SCO.
The ceremony was such that even the shovels the top leaders used bore the national emblem of their respective countries.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov, Uzbek President Islam Karimov and other guests were then treated to a sightseeing boat tour of the Huangpu River, which runs through this economic hub of China.
A dazzling fireworks display was staged during the tour, lighting up the sky over the river and adding to the appeal of the eye-catching city.
Also yesterday afternoon, Hu held separate meetings with President Rakhmonov of Tajikistan, President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Karimov of Uzbekistan on bilateral relations and the growth of the SCO.
The Chinese president said Beijing appreciated the three central Asian countries' firm support for China in the fight against terrorist forces of "East Turkistan."
The Chinese side is ready to push for stronger links with the three countries in wide-ranging fields such as economy, trade and energy, he said.
The three presidents pledged further co-operation with China in cracking down on the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism to safeguard security and stability in the region.
Executive Secretary Vladimir Rushailo of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Deputy Secretary-General Wilfrido. V. Villacorta of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will attend the summit as guests.
It was the first time that the SCO invited representatives of some international organizations that have co-operative ties with it to its summit.
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
Hu calls for closer trade links in SCO
SHANGHAI: President Hu Jintao yesterday called for closer trade links between the member states of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO), on the eve of the organisation's summit.
Speaking after the founding meeting of the SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee, Hu praised the hundreds of businessmen present for promoting the regional economy.
He described the committee's founding as "a major event" for the SCO.
The council "sets up a platform for enterprises from SCO members to strengthen exchanges and expand co-operation," said Hu.
"I believe the active participation of entrepreneurs will bring more substantial achievements for the SCO, as well as immediate benefits for people in the region."
He added that the SCO member states' complementary industries, sound investment environment and opening markets have created great opportunities for regional economic co-operation.
The entrepreneurs' committee was launched yesterday at the start of a two-day industry and business forum, which drew more than 500 businessmen from across the region.
The forum has been organized as part of the SCO's efforts to improve economic relations between companies in its member states.
Topics discussed included trade and investment, as well as co-operation in bidding in energy, transportation and telecommunications projects.
Apart from Hu, heads of state from Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan also addressed business representatives, calling on them to make greater efforts to build a prosperous regional economy.
The SCO was set up to improve security in Central Asia, but has increasingly focused on economic issues in recent years.
Trade between China and the other five SCO members hit US$37 billion in 2005, a jump of 212 per cent over that of 2001 when the SCO was founded.
According to an action plan adopted by SCO leaders in 2004, the six countries will join forces in 127 economic and technological projects, with a total investment of US$10 billion.
Analysts say the potential for trade co-operation in the SCO has yet to be fully exploited, given the emerging trend towards economic integration in the fast-developing region.
In a drive to build stronger ties the SCO has unveiled a roadmap for regional economic co-operation. The plan has three aspects facilitating further trade and investment, deepening economic co-operation and realizing the free flow of goods, capital, services and technology.
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
China-Kazakhstan strategic partnerships
President Hu Jintao yesterday vowed to promote China-Kazakhstan strategic partnerships to a new high.
"China-Kazakhstan relationship holds an important position in China's foreign relations," Hu said in a meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on the eve of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
Hu hailed the sound development of China-Kazakhstan ties, citing remarkable achievements in politics, economy and trade, energy, security and culture.
The strong China-Kazakhstan relations are bolstered by deep political trust, solid legal foundation, effective cooperation of mutual benefit, fruitful non-governmental exchanges and close coordination on international affairs, the president said.
"China is ready to boost China-Kazakhstan ties, promote the good-neighborly friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation and lift the strategic partnership to a new high," Hu said.
Hu proposed that the two sides push forward energy and gas cooperation, and jointly work for the initial stage of constructing the cross-border trade zone at Korgas port.
Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan will be committed to its strategic partnership with China, and will expand the two countries' cooperation in trade, energy, education and other fields.
"As Kazakhstan and China have identical stances and share interests on fighting the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, we will step up our cooperation with China," Nazarbayev said.
While appreciating the support China has offered to the CICA, Nazarbayev said he looks forward to seeing Hu at the CICA summit, which is scheduled for June 17 in Kazakhstan.
After the meeting, the two presidents attended a ceremony for the signing of some China-Kazakhstan cooperative documents
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
President Hu: We're ready to be a friend
President Hu Jintao told Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov yesterday that China is ready to be Tajikistan's good neighbor, good friend and good partner.
The two presidents met on the eve of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
Hu hailed China-Tajikistan relations, saying that bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, transportation, telecommunication and business projects has yielded new results over the past year and the two countries have maintained coordination in regional and international affairs.
Hu expressed his appreciation of Tajikistan for the latter's support to China on the issues of Taiwan and the fight against 'East Turkistan' terrorist force.
He said China will also support Tajikistan's efforts in safeguarding domestic stability and boosting national development.
"China is ready to join hands with Tajikistan to push bilateral ties forward. China and Tajikistan will be good neighbors, good friends and good partners forever," Hu said.
This year marks the 14th anniversary of China-Tajikistan diplomatic ties.
Rakhmonov said the relations between Tajikistan and China have developed rapidly and the two are close neighbors, friends and reliable partners.
He said Tajikistan firmly abides by the one-China policy and supports China's efforts to realize national reunification.
On the upcoming SCO summit, Hu said he believes the meeting will enhance trust, consolidate unity and improve cooperation among SCO members.
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
RATS will grow with support
President Hu Jintao yesterday vowed to strengthen support for the work of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS).
Hu made the remarks while meeting with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov.
"To fight the 'three evil forces' including the 'East Turkistan' force and safeguard security and stability in the region is in the common interests of China and Uzbekistan, as well as all the other countries there," he said.
He said Uzbekistan, as the host of RATS, made important contributions to the successful start of RATS and to the sound role played by it.
RATS, headquartered in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, was opened in June 2004 with a mission to step up coordination between SCO member states and other international bodies in combating the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
Hu hailed China-Uzbek relationship, saying it features political support, deepening cooperation and close coordination, and it contributes to regional and peace and stability.
The China-Uzbek treaty on friendly and cooperative partnership signed last year has pushed bilateral relations to a new phase of development, he said.
"China appreciates the firm support from Uzbekistan on such issues as Taiwan and on the strike against the 'East Turkistan' terrorist force. We will also support Uzbekistan along a development road which is in line with its domestic situation," Hu said.
Karimov said that Uzbekistan is satisfied with the booming cooperation with China in all fields, saying that Uzbek people have received support and help from China on hard occasions.
Iran and the 'OPEC with bombs'
By Daniel Kimmage
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) celebrates its fifth anniversary with a summit of member states' leaders in Shanghai on Thursday.
Last year's summit, in Kazakhstan, was notable for a declaration asking members of the "anti-terrorist coalition" to provide a time frame for the withdrawal of military forces from SCO territory. The SCO comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
It was a pointed reference to US military bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Only two weeks later, Uzbekistan evicted the United States from its Karshi-Khanabad air base.
This year, the summit will open against a backdrop of reports that Iran, which currently holds observer status in the SCO (along with India, Mongolia and Pakistan), is looking to become a full-fledged member. India has sent its influential oil minister, Murli Deora.
'OPEC with bombs'
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mohammadi set the speculation rippling in April when he said that Iran hoped to join the SCO in the summer. The foreign ministers of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan subsequently played down the possibility, citing a lack of formal mechanisms to accommodate new members.
But the gambit, coming in the context of Iran's strained relations with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, drew notice. The Washington Times quoted David Wall, professor at the University of Cambridge's East Asia Institute, as saying that "an expanded SCO would control a large part of the world's oil and gas reserves and [a] nuclear arsenal. It would essentially be an OPEC [Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries] with bombs."
As it emerged that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad would attend the SCO summit in Shanghai for a one-on-one meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on the sidelines, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also addressed the issue of Iran's potential membership of the organization, the New York Times reported on June 4.
Singling out Iran, Rumsfeld remarked that it was "passing strange that one would want to bring into an organization that says it is against terrorism one of the leading terrorist nations in the world".
SCO secretary general Zhang Deguang quickly retorted, Associated Press reported on June 7, firing back: "We cannot abide by other countries calling our observer nations sponsors of terror. We would not have invited them if we believed they sponsored terror."
Mutual support
Three points follow from the reactions to the SCO's Iranian gambit. First, the SCO represents an approach to multilateral relations and an understanding of terrorism that do not, in fact, define Iran as a sponsor of terror and would permit Iran's accession. Second, it is unlikely that Iran will join the SCO in the near future. And third, even if Iran joined, the SCO would have a long way to go before becoming a genuine "OPEC with bombs".
The SCO's charter helps to explain why member states - primarily China and Russia - do not consider Iran a sponsor of terrorism. While the charter's "aims and objections" list "joint opposition to terrorism, separatism and extremism in all their manifestations", its first principle is "mutual respect for states' sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and the sanctity of borders, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, the non-use of force or the threat of force in international relations, and renunciation of unilateral military superiority in contiguous areas".
The crux of the matter is that, for SCO member states, "terrorism, separatism and extremism" are viewed not as distinct abstract phenomena with global relevance to be dealt with globally, but rather as a single phenomenon that is locally defined by the ruling elite and left to sovereign states to combat by any means they see fit.
For Russia, it is Chechen separatism; for China, Uighur "splittism"; for Uzbekistan, religious extremism. The task of SCO member states is to support one another as they combat perceived threats to existing power relations, as Russia and China did when Uzbekistan labeled May 2005 unrest in Andijon "terrorism" and crushed it with maximum force.
It is the locally bounded definition of terrorism that leads SCO member states to reject the labeling of Iran as a sponsor of terror, and the globally defined emphasis on sovereignty and non-interference that makes them amenable to granting Iran membership.
Iran does not support Chechen separatists, Uighur "splittists", or Uzbek "religious extremists". The SCO's understanding of terrorism is not based on globally applied principles - hence the inclusion of the fight against "terrorism, extremism and separatism" in the charter's aims and objectives. So if Iran chooses to support individuals and groups it defines as "legitimate resistance" in a theater outside the SCO region, that is Iran's business.
But absolute sovereignty and non-interference are global principles to the SCO (hence their inclusion in the charter's principles), which are thus sympathetic to Tehran's plight as, in their view, a sovereign state that is the target of outside interference.
Tehran overreaching
That said, Iran remains an unlikely candidate for full membership in the SCO. The possibility of Iranian membership has raised the organization's profile on the international arena. But actual Iranian membership could significantly reduce the leeway that leading members China and Russia have until now enjoyed in the diplomatic jockeying over Iran's nuclear program.
As Yevgeny Morozov put it in a June 8 commentary on TCSDaily, Moscow and Beijing don't want to be responsible for "Iran's loony statements about Israel or its nuclear program". RIA-Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev made a similar point in an Outside View opinion piece for United Press International on June 8. Kosyrev argued that Iran "will not join in the foreseeable future" because the SCO is having trouble coping with a flood of new initiatives and needs to put its current house in order before expanding.
Yet even if Iran were to join the SCO, would it strengthen or weaken the organization? Today, the solid common ground in the SCO is its emphasis on non-interference - a not-so-subtle expression of unhappiness with Western cajoling on rights and reforms. Beyond that, individual members have their own concerns. For Central Asian governments, any forum that allows them to balance Chinese and Russian interests holds obvious attraction.
For Beijing, the primary significance of the SCO appears to be as a vehicle for managing China's growing commercial and energy interests in Central Asia. For Moscow, it is an eastward-looking body that goes beyond the borders of formerly Soviet space.
Furthermore, the SCO's four Central Asian members share numerous unsettled scores of their own. And specific Russian and Chinese interests in the region have the potential to diverge significantly, especially if China starts pushing for expanded access to Central Asian energy resources currently exported through Russia.
On the military front, while Russia and China held war games in August under the SCO aegis and the organization plans counter-terrorism exercises in Russia next year, Russia still handles the bulk of its military involvement in Central Asia through the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Iran surely shares the SCO's particular understanding of non-interference. But beyond this common ground, it has a host of its own concerns - most of them bound up with the politics of the Middle East, not Central Asia. It is difficult to see how the addition of those concerns to the SCO's already disparate mix of Chinese, Russian, and Central Asian interests would lend the organization greater cohesion or clout.
Nevertheless, the SCO represents two tendencies that are likely to become increasingly pronounced in international affairs. The first is the natural resistance of entrenched domestic elites to outside pressures that they perceive as a threat to their hold on power. The second is a desire to turn that common ground into a platform for greater global influence in the face of what the secondary and tertiary powers see as the primary power in the current world order.
As an expression of these rising tendencies, the SCO is noteworthy whether it expands or contracts.
Daniel Kimmage is the Central Asia regional analyst with RFE/RL Online and editor of the "RFE/RL Central Asia Report".
Resurgent Russia aims for the summit
By M K Bhadrakumar
Two telephone calls from President George W Bush to President Vladimir Putin within the five days from May 30 to June 5, and a visit by Henry Kissinger, the ace US statesman of realpolitik, to the Russian leader's residence at Novo Ogaryovo in the Moscow suburbs last Wednesday, and the prospects of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in St Petersburg next month suddenly brightened. [1]
All of Europe will be keenly watching the outcome of this latest Russian-US tango - most likely the Bush administration's last major act in addressing where exactly Putin's Russia belongs in the international system.
At the core of it lie the profound issues of energy security in the 21st century. Simply put, Russia has the capacity to supply the energy, but the West must reciprocate by granting Russia in political terms what has been denied to it in the past 15 years - integration with the Western world.
The prickliness in Russian-US relations in recent weeks suggests that Washington will somehow deny Putin the finest hour arguably of his entire presidency, namely a successful hosting of the G8 summit on July 15. Russia regards the summit as an acknowledgment of its role in the first league of world powers.
Putin's meeting with Kissinger took place two days after Bush made his second successive phone call to Moscow, during which, according to a Kremlin press statement, the "two leaders [Putin and Bush] followed on from their telephone conversation last week [May 30], discussing issues related to the preparations for the G8 summit in St Petersburg and the agenda for the Russia-US summit that will take place at the same period".
Putin told Kissinger that despite the "nuances" in Russian-US ties, the relationship on the whole was changing for the better. Putin referred to the Kissinger era in the Cold War period (read the "Kissingerian" vision of "balance of interests"), and recalled that it led to a "successful development" of relations between the two superpowers. Putin went on to take note of the Bush administration's interest in relations with Russia "first and foremost in the energy sector".
Putin observed, "Our [Russian-US] points of view do not always coincide, but we understand each other and find compromises. The latest steps we took concerning Iran bear witness to this." Putin spoke with deliberation, since Kissinger "maintains relations with many American public organizations and with the present administration".
Later, talking to the media, Kissinger said he received a "very positive feeling" that "significant opportunities" lay ahead for Russian-US cooperation and that progress would be made in "many areas" at the July summit.
Distancing himself from US Vice President Dick Cheney's recent condemnation of the Kremlin's record on liberal democracy, Kissinger commented, "One must think about the evolution that takes place in any country. I have a very positive feeling regarding the evolution that is taking place in Russia."
He stressed that Russia's claim to G8 membership was never in doubt, "I participated in establishing the G8 [then the Group of Six] in 1975. The issues that we discuss today are better solved thanks to Russia's participation than those that we discussed in 1975." Since the Kissinger mission to Moscow, the pace of events has significantly quickened.
The Kremlin appears to be already so engrossed in the unexpected turn of events that it would seem to have forgotten that yet another summit is just around the corner, this Thursday - the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing.
Moscow's "multi-vector" approach in foreign policy would dictate that it must embrace both the G8 and the SCO. But Moscow has priorities. The day after Bush's second phone call to Putin on June 5, powerful Kremlin figure, Deputy Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, signaled to Washington, "It is obvious to me that the Russian state should profess to be mainly part of Europe."
He continued, "It does not mean that we should forget about our ties with other regions, but historically we are above all a European country. Any future Russian leader should remember this." Four days after Medvedev spoke, top Kremlin adviser Sergei Prikhodko elaborated that Moscow expected "serious signals for the further deepening of the Russian-American partnership" when Putin meets with Bush at the G8 summit.
Conceivably, there are three "serious signals" that Moscow would expect. First, over energy security. Second, Russia's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Third, acknowledgement of Russia as a full-fledged member of the G8 - which means making a complete success of the St Petersburg summit.
The meeting of the finance ministers of the G8 in St Petersburg last Saturday, therefore, aroused interest. Its focus was indeed on energy security. Washington and Moscow would seem to have worked hard to evolve a framework of understanding. The joint communique said:
We discussed the current situation in the energy markets and the risks that high oil prices pose for the global economy going forward. We call for comprehensive action by both energy producing and energy consuming countries to facilitate investment in the energy sector, improve energy efficiency, including through national initiatives, and promote greater transparency and reliability in energy-market data, including through development of a global common standard for reporting oil reserves. We recognize the importance of the principles of the Energy Charter, of diversification of energy markets and supply sources, and of strengthened energy response cooperation in ensuring energy security.
Summing up, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin signaled Moscow's satisfaction. He said "St Petersburg is not only a window to Europe but to the whole world" and highlighted Russia's "integral role in the world economy". It appears that the pressure on Russia to ratify the Energy Charter is easing.
For the Kremlin, the all-consuming concern in the weeks ahead will be to carry forward the momentum created at the G8 finance ministers' meeting. The negotiations that lie ahead must grapple with tough questions - Russia's insistence on its rights to acquire property in utilities, pipelines, natural-gas facilities and other infrastructure in the United States and Europe, and Russia's willingness to give matching access for Western companies to the Russian energy industry.
The US only recently rebuffed a relatively modest attempt by China to acquire UNOCAL. In comparison, Russia's Gazprom hopes to acquire stakes on the US east coast in pipelines and liquefied-natural-gas conversion facilities involving massive investments.
In essence, Gazprom is looking for a variant of its swapping of assets with Germany in the North Sea Gas Pipeline project. (German companies were given shares in the Russian gas fields in return for Gazprom gaining access to energy production and transmission in Germany.)
Moscow has been holding back a decision on the Shtokman gas fields in the Barents Sea for which Chevron and ExxonMobil have been short-listed. Naturally, the current negotiations involve the highest levels of leadership in Moscow, Washington and the European capitals.
Speaking to the media after the G8 finance ministers' meeting, US Treasury Secretary John Snow implied that Washington was no longer making an issue of Russia's "reliability" as a partner in energy cooperation. Second, Snow said Russia could well join the WTO before the G8 summit. (US Trade Representative Susan Schwab commented separately in Washington last Friday that Russia's WTO membership was "not beyond the realms of possibility".)
In a sign of Russia's new role within the G8, Kudrin announced that Russia would cancel US$700 million in debt owed by poor countries, of which $250 million would be diverted to poverty-reduction projects under an agreement with the World Bank. At a press conference in St Petersburg on Friday, World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz described it as a "clear demonstration of the role that Russia started to play as an emerging donor - I would say as a new partner".
And don't forget the SCO ...
With so much at stake, and the stars shining on the big event in St Petersburg, Russia is approaching the SCO summit gently. Wisdom and prudence dictate that US sensitivities must be borne in mind. The US views the SCO with distaste. (It comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.)
The SCO has turned down a US request for observer status, and then proceeded to demand a timeline for vacation of US troops from Central Asia. The SCO provided safe haven for Uzbekistan when it came under US pressure for "regime change". The SCO comprehensively discredited the color revolutions in Central Asia.
By its sheer presence, the SCO challenges the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) claim to be the only viable security organization with a reach in Central Asia. Most important, the US suspected that the SCO acted as a Russia-China condominium for countering its influence in the region. There was a time when the US felt the SCO would ultimately wither away, but on the contrary, it is gaining traction.
With all these factors at work, Moscow wouldn't provoke Washington needlessly. Indeed, Putin's policy has often been compared to the Russian policy in the 1890s led by finance minister (and the first constitutional prime minister of the Russian Empire under Czar Nicholas II) Count Sergei Witte - strong internal economic development through state-driven liberalization, and steering clear of any form of foreign-policy adventures.
The "Witte system" will not root for Iran's membership of the SCO at this juncture. Washington knows it too. Thus when ambiguities crept in recently, a US State Department spokesman said Washington would ask Moscow for an "explanation" for the invitation extended to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to attend the SCO summit in Shanghai.
Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, two of Russia's closest allies, spoke up at the SCO foreign ministers' meeting in Beijing last month against the idea of the SCO adding new members. Moscow of course took a back seat.
Besides, from the Russian perspective, the SCO summit is taking place in vastly changed circumstances. Russia had a desperate need of the SCO last year, when the specter of "color revolutions" was haunting the region. Last year's summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, took place against the backdrop of the "Tulip Revolution" in Kyrgyzstan and the uprising in Andizhan, Uzbekistan. The helping hand from Beijing within the SCO framework helped Moscow counter US policies.
But Russia today finds itself in a far more comfortable position. True, Central Asian states have their own "multi-vector" approach to foreign relations. All the same, the US is yet to give a creative thrust to its Central Asia policy. Meanwhile, Russia's dominant influence prevails in the region.
Russia, therefore, wouldn't expect any "sensations" at the SCO summit. Russia would rather ponder the SCO's future trajectory. Certainly, the SCO is not to develop into a full-fledged military bloc - an "oriental NATO". Russia prefers the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) [2] to be the main vehicle of collective security in the region.
The CSTO is predictable - and Russia's leadership role in it. The CSTO charter grants Russia the right to be consulted over any politico-military decisions by the Central Asian states. At the same time, Russia wouldn't be averse to the CSTO having a "partnership network" with the SCO. In fact, the SCO might as well forge partnership networks of multilateral associations in Asia and the Pacific regions rather than add new members.
The point is, for Russia at the present juncture, the SCO is in a "standby" mode. A successful G8 summit is the top priority. Having said that, SCO has a centrality in Russian policies, being the only forum within which Russia works with China on issues of common concern and shared interests in the Central Asian region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a discussion in the Russian parliament last Wednesday that there were issues in Russia's bilateral relations with China that were "real" and that "cause concern", but Russia views them in perspective as "a very small part of the general picture of our relations with China". He said China's importance for Russia "by far transcends any individual aspect of our living side by side as neighbors".
Lavrov stated, "They [the Chinese] are our strategic partner. China is a fast-growing power, which undoubtedly has a great future ... It is in our vital interest to live in friendship and cooperation with our great neighbor ... Having said that, I agree that this implies mutual cooperation, mutual regard for each other's interests and mutual respect."
Thus Russia will continue to view the SCO as a forum of vital importance in regional cooperation with China - an exclusive forum that even lends credence to Russian aspirations of acting as a "Eurasian bridge" between the West and China.
Notes
1. The G8 comprises the members of the Group of Seven (G7) and Russia. The G7 members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, which together account for about two-thirds of the world's economic output. Russia officially became the eighth member of the G8 at the 1997 Denver, Colorado, "Summit of the Eight". But while Russia is a G8 member, it does not participate in financial and economic discussions, which continue to be conducted by the G7. Russia has the G8's smallest economy.
2. The Collective Security Treaty Organization comprises Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The members are not allowed to join other military alliances or other groups of states, while an aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all.
M K Bhadrakumar served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for more than 29 years, with postings including ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-98) and to Turkey (1998-2001).
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
SHANGHAI: Heads of state from the six-nation Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) will meet today to chart a path for the group's future, after President Hu Jintao yesterday hosted a series of commemorative activities and meetings.
The one-day SCO summit, to be held at the Shanghai International Convention Centre, coincides with the fifth anniversary of the organization's founding on June 15, 2001 and the 10th of its prototype the Shanghai Five mechanism.
While meeting his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmonov yesterday afternoon, Hu said the summit is of great significance.
"With joint efforts of each party, I believe the summit will achieve its goal of strengthening mutual trust, promoting unity and deepening co-operation," he said.
The regional body grouping China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is the first international organization with its headquarters in China.
As the annual SCO summit returns to its birthplace, the six presidents will review the organization's five-year achievements, outline objectives for future co-operation, and exchange views on major international and regional issues.
The summit is also expected to pass a declaration and endorse dozens of documents that promote stronger bilateral and multilateral co-operation in a wide range of sectors.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and leaders of four SCO observer countries Mongolia, Iran, India and Pakistan will also be present at the summit.
Ahead of what is called a "milestone" meeting, Hu, along with his five foreign counterparts, attended a tree-planting ceremony in the Xijiao State Guest Hotel yesterday afternoon.
With the help of six children, they planted a white magnolia tree Shanghai's city flower noted for its splendid blossoms in early spring before inaugurating a monument in commemoration of the event.
Because magnolia trees can live for as long as 1,000 years, it is said the tree signifies the vitality of the SCO.
The ceremony was such that even the shovels the top leaders used bore the national emblem of their respective countries.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov, Uzbek President Islam Karimov and other guests were then treated to a sightseeing boat tour of the Huangpu River, which runs through this economic hub of China.
A dazzling fireworks display was staged during the tour, lighting up the sky over the river and adding to the appeal of the eye-catching city.
Also yesterday afternoon, Hu held separate meetings with President Rakhmonov of Tajikistan, President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Karimov of Uzbekistan on bilateral relations and the growth of the SCO.
The Chinese president said Beijing appreciated the three central Asian countries' firm support for China in the fight against terrorist forces of "East Turkistan."
The Chinese side is ready to push for stronger links with the three countries in wide-ranging fields such as economy, trade and energy, he said.
The three presidents pledged further co-operation with China in cracking down on the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism to safeguard security and stability in the region.
Executive Secretary Vladimir Rushailo of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Deputy Secretary-General Wilfrido. V. Villacorta of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will attend the summit as guests.
It was the first time that the SCO invited representatives of some international organizations that have co-operative ties with it to its summit.
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
Hu calls for closer trade links in SCO
SHANGHAI: President Hu Jintao yesterday called for closer trade links between the member states of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO), on the eve of the organisation's summit.
Speaking after the founding meeting of the SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee, Hu praised the hundreds of businessmen present for promoting the regional economy.
He described the committee's founding as "a major event" for the SCO.
The council "sets up a platform for enterprises from SCO members to strengthen exchanges and expand co-operation," said Hu.
"I believe the active participation of entrepreneurs will bring more substantial achievements for the SCO, as well as immediate benefits for people in the region."
He added that the SCO member states' complementary industries, sound investment environment and opening markets have created great opportunities for regional economic co-operation.
The entrepreneurs' committee was launched yesterday at the start of a two-day industry and business forum, which drew more than 500 businessmen from across the region.
The forum has been organized as part of the SCO's efforts to improve economic relations between companies in its member states.
Topics discussed included trade and investment, as well as co-operation in bidding in energy, transportation and telecommunications projects.
Apart from Hu, heads of state from Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan also addressed business representatives, calling on them to make greater efforts to build a prosperous regional economy.
The SCO was set up to improve security in Central Asia, but has increasingly focused on economic issues in recent years.
Trade between China and the other five SCO members hit US$37 billion in 2005, a jump of 212 per cent over that of 2001 when the SCO was founded.
According to an action plan adopted by SCO leaders in 2004, the six countries will join forces in 127 economic and technological projects, with a total investment of US$10 billion.
Analysts say the potential for trade co-operation in the SCO has yet to be fully exploited, given the emerging trend towards economic integration in the fast-developing region.
In a drive to build stronger ties the SCO has unveiled a roadmap for regional economic co-operation. The plan has three aspects facilitating further trade and investment, deepening economic co-operation and realizing the free flow of goods, capital, services and technology.
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
China-Kazakhstan strategic partnerships
President Hu Jintao yesterday vowed to promote China-Kazakhstan strategic partnerships to a new high.
"China-Kazakhstan relationship holds an important position in China's foreign relations," Hu said in a meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on the eve of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
Hu hailed the sound development of China-Kazakhstan ties, citing remarkable achievements in politics, economy and trade, energy, security and culture.
The strong China-Kazakhstan relations are bolstered by deep political trust, solid legal foundation, effective cooperation of mutual benefit, fruitful non-governmental exchanges and close coordination on international affairs, the president said.
"China is ready to boost China-Kazakhstan ties, promote the good-neighborly friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation and lift the strategic partnership to a new high," Hu said.
Hu proposed that the two sides push forward energy and gas cooperation, and jointly work for the initial stage of constructing the cross-border trade zone at Korgas port.
Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan will be committed to its strategic partnership with China, and will expand the two countries' cooperation in trade, energy, education and other fields.
"As Kazakhstan and China have identical stances and share interests on fighting the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, we will step up our cooperation with China," Nazarbayev said.
While appreciating the support China has offered to the CICA, Nazarbayev said he looks forward to seeing Hu at the CICA summit, which is scheduled for June 17 in Kazakhstan.
After the meeting, the two presidents attended a ceremony for the signing of some China-Kazakhstan cooperative documents
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
President Hu: We're ready to be a friend
President Hu Jintao told Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov yesterday that China is ready to be Tajikistan's good neighbor, good friend and good partner.
The two presidents met on the eve of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
Hu hailed China-Tajikistan relations, saying that bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, transportation, telecommunication and business projects has yielded new results over the past year and the two countries have maintained coordination in regional and international affairs.
Hu expressed his appreciation of Tajikistan for the latter's support to China on the issues of Taiwan and the fight against 'East Turkistan' terrorist force.
He said China will also support Tajikistan's efforts in safeguarding domestic stability and boosting national development.
"China is ready to join hands with Tajikistan to push bilateral ties forward. China and Tajikistan will be good neighbors, good friends and good partners forever," Hu said.
This year marks the 14th anniversary of China-Tajikistan diplomatic ties.
Rakhmonov said the relations between Tajikistan and China have developed rapidly and the two are close neighbors, friends and reliable partners.
He said Tajikistan firmly abides by the one-China policy and supports China's efforts to realize national reunification.
On the upcoming SCO summit, Hu said he believes the meeting will enhance trust, consolidate unity and improve cooperation among SCO members.
President Hu meets with SCO summiteers
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14
RATS will grow with support
President Hu Jintao yesterday vowed to strengthen support for the work of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS).
Hu made the remarks while meeting with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov.
"To fight the 'three evil forces' including the 'East Turkistan' force and safeguard security and stability in the region is in the common interests of China and Uzbekistan, as well as all the other countries there," he said.
He said Uzbekistan, as the host of RATS, made important contributions to the successful start of RATS and to the sound role played by it.
RATS, headquartered in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, was opened in June 2004 with a mission to step up coordination between SCO member states and other international bodies in combating the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
Hu hailed China-Uzbek relationship, saying it features political support, deepening cooperation and close coordination, and it contributes to regional and peace and stability.
The China-Uzbek treaty on friendly and cooperative partnership signed last year has pushed bilateral relations to a new phase of development, he said.
"China appreciates the firm support from Uzbekistan on such issues as Taiwan and on the strike against the 'East Turkistan' terrorist force. We will also support Uzbekistan along a development road which is in line with its domestic situation," Hu said.
Karimov said that Uzbekistan is satisfied with the booming cooperation with China in all fields, saying that Uzbek people have received support and help from China on hard occasions.
FreeAsia2000
Junior Member
NATO was successful only so long as it's members faced a serious threat.
I can't see the SCO as succeeding unless it either exists to oppose a
serious external threat OR it becomes an economic organization.
The differences between the members are too great
I can't see the SCO as succeeding unless it either exists to oppose a
serious external threat OR it becomes an economic organization.
The differences between the members are too great
In my view, SCO is about one thing primarily...oil (and some other resources). China needs it, the other members have it, or can help China access it.
But what was clear - having had to deal with a lot of disruption to biz here last week - is that the Chinese are taking it very very very seriously indeed. They threw huge resources at the event to ensure it went off smoothly. It's certainly an organisation to keep an eye on for the future.
But what was clear - having had to deal with a lot of disruption to biz here last week - is that the Chinese are taking it very very very seriously indeed. They threw huge resources at the event to ensure it went off smoothly. It's certainly an organisation to keep an eye on for the future.