Chinese President Jiang Zemin said here Friday that members of the newly-established Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) should increase solidarity and deepen collaboration in the 21st century.
Jiang, speaking at the SCO summit meeting, said that he fully endorses the high evaluation of the process of "Shanghai Five" mechanism and the SCO's establishment by presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The constructive suggestions and opinions raised by the presidents will be of importance in guiding the building and development of the organization and the unity and cooperation between the six member states, Jiang said.
During the 1990s, profound changes took place in the world. Reviewing lessons from the Cold War which spanned four decades and the vicissitudes of the past 20th century, all the people in the world earnestly hope the human society could step into a new century of peace and development, the president noted.
Sharing vast areas in the region, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as bordering countries, have found that good-neighborly relationship of trust and friendly cooperation between the states would not only increase happiness and benefits of the five but also safeguard regional and world peace and stability, Jiang said.
With high visions, the five states' leaders judged the time and sized up the situation to establish mutual military trust in border areas first and then gradually increase cooperation to safeguard regional security and stability, which made the " Shanghai Five" mechanism a prominent success, he said.
The development of the "Shanghai Five" has been regarded as an important practice in international relations, which initiated a new type of security conception featuring mutual trust, disarmament and cooperative security. The "Shanghai Five" mechanism also enriched the brand-new state-to-state relationship jointly initiated by China and Russia with the core of non- alignment, and created a new regional cooperative mode featuring joint proposition, priority of security, mutual benefit and friendly cooperation, the president said.
The "Shanghai Spirit", which has been developed during the process of the "Shanghai Five", shows the characteristics of mutual trust and benefit, equality, consultation, mutual respect to different civilizations and common prosperity, which are not only the summary of their past experiences but also have practical significance in pushing forward a just and rational new order of international politics and economy, Jiang said.
Economic globalization and world multi-polarization are speeding up and modern science and technology are developing day after day. When the human society steps forward fast, the international situation is further easing in general. However, people in the world are still confronted with challenges and threats to subsistence security, he said.
The North and South hemispheres are further differentiating in economic development, which brings about a series of deep-rooted contradictions for world peace and development. Meanwhile, activities of terrorism, separatism and extremism are also increasing, Jiang said.
In a bid to share opportunities and concertedly deal with challenges, various countries and regions are accelerating their steps of regional cooperation, which is an important trend in modern international relations, he said.
The establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization not only conforms with the international historic trend, but also meets basic interests of the people in the six countries and pushes forward peace and development in the region and the Asian- European continent at large, the president said.
Noting that the emergence of the SCO at the international stage has been undoubtedly watched by the international community, Jiang said that the declaration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization fully shows that all the SCO members will strictly abide by the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, strengthen mutual trust and good-neighborly relationship, increase effective cooperation of the member states in political, trade and economic, scientific and technological, cultural and educational fields, ensure peace, security and stability in the region, and push forward the process of establishing a democratic, just and rational international political and economic order.
The president stressed that under all circumstances, the SCO will unswervingly abide by the principles and tenets and always hold high the banner of peace and cooperation.
As a new organization, the SCO has a long way to go. All the member states share common responsibilities to develop and construct it well.
Jiang put forward four propositions for future development of the SCO, including increasing creativeness, pursuing a pragmatic approach, upholding the spirit of solidarity and carrying out the principle of openness.
The SCO should learn tested experiences from other international and regional organizations, as well as consistently blaze the trail of development suitable to the six countries in line with the actual conditions in the region. Only by this way, the SCO could have powerful vitality and a bright future, Jiang said.
The six states will attach great importance to safeguarding regional security. Signing of the Shanghai pact on crackdown on terrorism, separatism and extremism lays a solid legal ground for future cooperation between the member states. The six states should speed up their work for establishing the anti-terrorism center in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Jiang said.
Trade and economic cooperation is another focus of collaboration between the member states, Jiang added.
In accordance with the real conditions, China proposes to start the negotiation for making bilateral and multilateral trade and investment more convenient among member states, Jiang said.
The Chinese side also highly valued Kazakhstan's proposal on the outline of multilateral economic and trade cooperation, he said.
Jiang said he believes that the first meeting of heads of the SCO members' governments will also greatly push forward bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation.
With common benefits and purposes, the six member states agreed to establish such an organization. Therefore, the member states should solve any problem through friendly consultation with the principle of seeking common ground while reserving differences, he said.
The spirit of solidarity will help the SCO overcome difficulties in the future, he said.
Sticking to the principle of non-alignment, not targeting to any other country and opening to other countries is an important prerequisite of healthy development of the SCO, the president said.
The SCO should actively and steadily carry out various dialogues, exchanges and cooperation with other countries or international and regional organizations, Jiang said, adding that on the basis of reaching unanimous agreement, the SCO member states would allow new members' entry into the organization.
Jiang said he believes that the SCO have a bright future. The six member states should always carry forward the "Shanghai Spirit " to maintain long-term friendship.
Together with other international or regional organizations in the world, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization would promote regional peace, stability and prosperity, push forward a democratic, just and rational international political and economic order, as well as safeguard the global peace, Jiang said.
(Xinhua 06/15/2001)
