SCO meetings pave way for fruitful Qingdao Summit

Rabi Sankar Bosu China Plus Published: 2018-04-26 18:34:53
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By Rabi Sankar Bosu

The meetings of the foreign and defense ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Tuesday at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing were a prelude to the SCO Leaders' Summit to be held in June in the coastal city of Qingdao, in east China's Shandong Province.

The SCO is a Eurasian inter-governmental organization with vast influence thanks to the efforts of its members including China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Pakistan. Over the past 17 years, the SCO has made remarkable strides in politics, economics, security, people-to-people exchanges, external exchanges, and mechanism building. For example, under the SCO framework, the 21 cooperation zones that China built with other SCO states have played a role in expanding local employment and raising tax revenues.

The Defense Ministers' Meeting of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is held in Beijing on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

The Defense Ministers' Meeting of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is held in Beijing on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

This year's meeting of foreign and defense ministers holds special significance since they were the first top ministerial-level meetings of the SCO since it expanded last June to include India and Pakistan. Since joining the SCO, the two countries have played an active role in the organization in line with the "Shanghai Spirit", which calls for mutual trust and benefits, equality, respect for cultural diversity, and the pursuit of common development. 

During the one-day SCO Foreign Ministers meeting, the participants discussed the course of SCO cooperation over the past year, and also new areas of cooperation in trade and economy. This was a timely topic, given that the world is facing rising protectionism and a pushback against globalization. During her address at the meeting, India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj rallied support for globalization and free trade amid the threat of tariffs by the United States on imports from China and India. "We believe that economic globalization should be more open, inclusive, equitable, and balanced for mutual benefits. Protectionism in all its forms should be rejected and efforts should be made to address measures that constitute barriers to trade."

The foreign ministers reached a consensus on deepening solidarity and mutual trust, boosting security cooperation, dovetailing development strategies, increasing pragmatic cooperation, strengthening people-to-people exchanges, and expanding the international influence of the SCO. They also reaffirmed that peaceful political progress is the only way to solve the Syria issue and that Syria's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity must be maintained. 

The minsters approved 14 agreements that will be submitted to the upcoming SCO Qingdao summit for review. The drafts of the Action Plan for 2018-2022 on the implementation of the Treaty on Long-Term Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation between the SCO Member States, and the 2019-2021 Program of Cooperation among the SCO Member States on Counter-Terrorist, Counter-Separatist, and Counter-Extremist Measures are two especially notable proposals. 

India's name was conspicuously absent from the list of countries that endorsed China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the joint statement issued by the foreign ministers. India's absence from the BRI is without doubt a bad diplomatic move on the part of India. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that the BRI may be China's idea but its opportunities and outcomes will benefit the world. Surely the BRI can be a vehicle for the two biggest developing countries to contribute to development and prosperity in the region. India should abandon its preconceived view of the BRI when Prime Minister Modi meets President Xi in Wuhan this week.

Despite the disagreements between the two countries regarding the BRI, the renewed optimism in Sino-Indian relations was demonstrated during the meeting of the SCO defense ministers. China's Defense Minister Wei Fenghe called on SCO member states to "stick to the principle of treating each other as equals, helping each other, and sharing weal and woe", so as to share in the benefits of defense and security cooperation. And during a bilateral meeting with her Chinese counterpart, India's Defense Minister Sitharaman said that differences should not lead to disputes in relations between India and China.

After the failure of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the SCO has become an important forum for global and regional peace and security, and the promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation between member states, setting "an example of a new type of international relations". It is hoped that leaders of the SCO member countries will strengthen cooperation through dialogue and diplomacy in order to take multilateral relations to a new level under the guidance of the SCO charter. A clear note of hope for the upcoming SCO summit was echoed in the words of Wang Yi: "The Qingdao summit, with joint efforts from all sides, will be a significant meeting, setting future directions and goals for the SCO, and marking a milestone in its history."

(Rabi Sankar Bosu, Secretary, New Horizon Radio Listeners' Club, based in West Bengal, India)

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LU Xiankun Professor LU Xiankun is Managing Director of LEDECO Geneva and Associate Partner of IDEAS Centre Geneva. He is Emeritus Professor of China Institute for WTO Studies of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and Wuhan University (WHU) of China and visiting professor or senior research fellow of some other universities and think tanks in China and Europe. He also sits in management of some international business associations and companies, including as Senior Vice President of Shenzhen UEB Technology LTD., a leading e-commerce company of China. Previously, Mr. LU was senior official of Chinese Ministry of Commerce and senior diplomat posted in Europe, including in Geneva as Counsellor and Head of Division of the Permanent Mission of China to the WTO and in Brussels as Commercial Secretary of the Permanent Mission of China to the EU. Benjamin Cavender Benjamin Cavender is a Shanghai based consultant with more than 11 years of experience helping companies understand consumer behavior and develop go to market strategies for China. He is a frequent speaker on economic and consumer trends in China and is often featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Channel News Asia. Sara Hsu Sara Hsu is an associate professor from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is a regular commentator on Chinese economy. Xu Qinduo Xu Qinduo is CRI's former chief correspondent to Washington DC, the United States. He works as the producer, host and commentator for TODAY, a flagship talk show on current affairs. Mr. Xu contributes regularly to English-language newspapers including Shenzhen Daily and Global Times as well as Chinese-language radio and TV services. Lin Shaowen A radio person, Mr. Lin Shaowen is strongly interested in international relations and Chinese politics. As China is quite often misunderstood in the rest of the world, he feels the need to better present the true picture of the country, the policies and meanings. So he talks a lot and is often seen debating. Then friends find a critical Lin Shaowen criticizing and criticized. George N. Tzogopoulos Dr George N. Tzogopoulos is an expert in media and politics/international relations as well as Chinese affairs. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre International de Européenne (CIFE) and Visiting Lecturer at the European Institute affiliated with it and is teaching international relations at the Department of Law of the Democritus University of Thrace. George is the author of two books: US Foreign Policy in the European Media: Framing the Rise and Fall of Neoconservatism (IB TAURIS) and The Greek Crisis in the Media: Stereotyping in the International Press (Ashgate) as well as the founder of chinaandgreece.com, an institutional partner of CRI Greek. David Morris David Morris is the Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commissioner in China, a former Australian diplomat and senior political adviser. Harvey Dzodin After a distinguished career in the US government and American media Dr. Harvey Dzodin is now a Beijing-based freelance columnist for several media outlets. While living in Beijing, he has published over 200 columns with an emphasis on arts, culture and the Belt & Road initiative. He is also a sought-after speaker and advisor in China and abroad. He currently serves as Nonresident Research Fellow of the think tank Center for China and Globalization and Senior Advisor of Tsinghua University National Image Research Center specializing in city branding. Dr. Dzodin was a political appointee of President Jimmy Carter and served as lawyer to a presidential commission. Upon the nomination of the White House and the US State Department he served at the United Nations Office in Vienna, Austria. He was Director and Vice President of the ABC Television in New York for more than two decades.