New initiatives and an anti-terrorism organization will have
landmark significance and put the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) on a new stage of substantial development, said Zhang
Deguang, the current secretary-general of the SCO.
The SCO comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
"The upcoming summit of SCO heads of state will be of great
importance in finding new opportunities and perspectives for
cooperation and maintaining security and stability," said
Zhang.
President Hu Jintao will arrive in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for a
three-day state visit Monday evening. On Thursday, he will attend
the summit with other heads of state of SCO member countries.
Representatives from the United Nations, European Union,
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and
Commonwealth of Independent States will be present at the launching
ceremony of the anti-terror entity.
"The launch of permanent bodies of SCO of Regional
Anti-terrorism Structure in Tashkent and Secretariat in Beijing
signifies that the SCO has ended its primary stage and entered a
new stage of substantial cooperation," said Zhang.
The secretariat of the SCO was launched in January in
Beijing.
During the summit, SCO members will ink about 19 agreements on
politics, economics, law and security.
Analysts say that security collaboration is an important part of
SCO's cooperative mechanism.
Xu Tao, deputy director of the Division for Eurasian Studies
with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations,
said forging stronger economic ties between member states is also
based on security considerations because poverty is a major cause
of turbulence.
The SCO was the first international organization to advocate the
fight against the Three Evil Forces -- terrorism, separatism and
extremism.
The SCO staged its first military maneuvers in August 2003.
Senior officials of security councils of member countries met in
Tashkent on June 4. They said it was necessary to develop
mechanisms and programs for cooperation between law enforcement
bodies of SCO member countries in the fight against the Three
Forces.
Participants said increased global terrorism activities are
connected with the regrouping of international terrorist
organizations.
The Tashkent-based anti-terror structure has 30 security
officials from the six member states. Their main goal is to
strengthen the effectiveness of members to collect and exchange
security information and to enhance cooperation between other
international anti-terrorism organizations, said Zhang. "For
example, the members have agreed to take joint action on drug
trafficking in order to cut off the funds of terrorism."
China earlier announced that Afghan Transitional Government
President Hamid Karzai will attend the Tashkent summit as a guest
of Uzbek President Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov.
"Central Asian countries have very close ties with Afghanistan,
especially in the realm of security. For instance, drug trafficking
is rampant along the borders of Afghanistan and Central Asian
countries," said Xu, noting that it is probably the main reason of
Karzai's participation in the upcoming summit.
Xu said that the various nationalities and religions of the
people residing in Central Asia add to the complexity of regional
security issues.
"Regional organizations' strength will help handle the
increasing religious extremism, terrorism and ethnic separatism,"
Xu said.
However, the SCO is not a military alliance, and it is not only
a security organization, either, Zhang said. It began with security
cooperation and later included comprehensive cooperation in various
fields between the members. Currently, members are also interested
in seeing SCO develop a trade component.
Zhang described the SCO collaboration in security and economy
and trade as "two wheels of a cart," saying he believes economic
and trade cooperation will gradually become even more significant.
These are key areas of cooperation for the SCO and serve as the
material foundation and guarantee for the SCO's smooth
development.
"Close economic and trade relationships will bring common
prosperity to SCO members," said Zhang.
Xu also predicted that member countries would team up on
economic and trade issues by launching specific cooperation
projects in energy and communications.
"Because of China's participation, the SCO is quite different in
nature from other big powers and blocs in the region," said Xu.
(China Daily June 14, 2004)