At the invitation of Kyrgyz, Russian and Kazakh presidents,
President Hu Jintao will pay a state visit to Kyrgyzstan from today
until Saturday, where he will attend the summit of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organizations (SCO) in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, and
watch the joint anti-terrorism military exercise in Russia staged
by SCO members. He will end his tour with a state visit to
Kazakhstan.
Hu's tour is aimed at promoting the SCO's role in safeguarding
international and regional peace and stability and bringing about a
harmonious region.
The SCO has been making steady progress since it was established
in 2001. Its member states, through negotiations at the Bishkek
summit, are expected to push forward the "Shanghai Spirit" which
manifests mutual benefit, negotiations based on equality,
respecting each other's cultures and seeking common
development.
The member states will also strive to fulfill the new tasks
faced by the SCO. First, this involves deepening cooperation in the
area of common security, which requires working out a
terrorism-prevention convention, reinforcing member states'
anti-terror capabilities and introducing anti-drug trafficking
mechanisms as soon as possible.
Second, cooperation in economics ought to be strengthened,
involving consolidating the legal base for trade and investment,
drawing up plans for cooperation in the fields of energy,
transportation and communications and carrying out a number of
multilateral economic projects that benefit all parties.
Third, cooperation in cultural and educational fields should be
promoted. As a result, a number of pacts covering cultural
exchanges, educational cooperation and disaster-relief undertakings
will be reached and implemented. For example, plans for mutual
recognition of academic credentials and university degrees
throughout SCO member countries will be worked out.
Fourth, exchanges between SCO members on the one hand and other
countries on the other need to be boosted. This involves
substantial cooperation in economics, transportation, energy and
the fight against drug-trafficking between SCO members and observer
countries.
In addition, the role of the SCO-Afghanistan liaison group
should be brought into play. And liaison and dialogue with relevant
regions and international organizations should be strengthened.
The Bishkek summit is expected to be a large international
gathering and is of far-reaching significance.
In addition to the heads of state of the SCO members,
dignitaries from several observer countries - Mongolia, Iran and
Afghanistan - are expected to attend the summit, as well as the
Turkmen president and Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers. The
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Lynn Pascoe is also
expected to attend.
At the summit, the heads of state of the six SCO members will
sign a friendly treaty on long-term good-neighborly cooperation
among SCO member states, which perpetuates in legal form the
aspirations of the peoples in those countries for eternal peace and
friendship down the generations.
A number of other important documents are also expected to be
signed, including the Bishkek Declaration and the plan for
information security among the SCO members.
Besides the upcoming Bishkek summit, SCO member countries are
currently engaged in the Peace Mission 2007 anti-terrorism military
exercise, the fifth of its kind.
The previous four exercises demonstrated to the world the combat
readiness of SCO member states' armed forces for coping with
non-traditional security threats and meeting the new challenges.
The exercises served as a deterrent to the terrorist, separatist
and extremist elements and helped safeguard regional peace and
stability.
The scale of the current anti-terrorism maneuver is
unprecedented.
Two years ago, Chinese and Russian armed forces took part in
Peace Mission 2005 on China's Yellow Sea, focusing on amphibious
operations. The current exercises, however, involve all six members
of the SCO and concentrate on fighting terrorism. The curtain went
up on Thursday in Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region, where the planning and command operations are
carried out. The on-the-battleground phase of Peace Mission 2007
exercise will kick off on Friday in Cheliyabinsk, Russia.
The heads of state and defense ministers of the six SCO member
countries will be present, watching the exercise unfold.
The current maneuver, as its predecessors, is not targeted at
any other country or organization and does not involve the
interests of the nations other than SCO members.
President Hu Jintao's visit to Kyrgyzstan coincides with the
fifth anniversary of the signing of the China-Kyrgyzstan Friendly
Treaty on Good-Neighborly Cooperation. The development of bilateral
relations keeps a strong momentum, with the cooperation in trade,
transportation, agriculture, education, culture and sports
expanding continuously. Trade between the two countries in 2006,
for example, hit $2.26 billion, up 128.6 percent on the previous
year.
During Hu's visit, the two sides will sign a number of documents
covering political, economic, agricultural and educational
cooperation.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev said President Hu's Kyrgyzstan
visit will inject new vitality into the bilateral relations and
help make the cooperation more fruitful.
China-Kazakhstan relations have been developing steadily in
recent years. The bilateral cooperation in economics, energy,
transportation and culture is yielding rich results.
Last year, the volume of bilateral trade reached $8.36 billion,
up 22.8 percent on the previous year. Large-scale cooperative
programs such as Kazakhstan-China crude-oil pipeline and the Horgas
international border cooperation center are progressing
smoothly.
During Hu's visit, the two sides are expected to sign a package
of cooperative documents involving politics and economics. The
countries will also strengthen orchestration on regional and
international issues.
In the interval between the SCO summit and the military
exercise, Hu will have two meetings with Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
The China-Russia strategic cooperation partnership entered its
10th year in 2007 and the two countries will open up new channels
and introduce new measures to push forward the cooperation in
economics, energy, investment, science and technology,
environmental protection, culture and education. Where important
regional and world issues are concerned, communication between the
two countries is to be reinforced.
The author is a researcher with the Research Center of
Contemporary World
(China Daily August 14, 2007)
