The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was not a copy of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as some claimed and
it had no plans to become a military bloc, the organization's chief
said yesterday.
The allegation that the SCO was an eastern equivalent to NATO
was "totally groundless," said Zhang Deguang, the SCO's
secretary-general, at a news conference in Beijing ahead of the
organization's summit in Shanghai next week.
"The SCO has never sought confrontation with any parties and its
aims have nothing at all to do with becoming a military bloc," said
Zhang. The organization would continue holding high the flag of
peace, cooperation and openness, he added.
The SCO, established in Shanghai in 2001, is a regional
cooperation and security association comprising of China, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India, Mongolia,
Iran and Pakistan are observers to the organization.
The leaders of the four observer countries have been invited to
attend next week's meeting including Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
But Zhang said the Iranian nuclear problem would not be the main
issue at the SCO summit. "Given the regional nature of the SCO I do
not think the Iranian problem will be a priority," he told
reporters. He added that observer countries didn't have voting
rights at the summit.
"Their participation will be strictly in line with the agenda
that is agreed on by the SCO member countries," he said. The SCO
pursued an open policy but it had not formulated legal documents on
accepting new members at present, he explained.?
On the subject of cooperation in nuclear non-proliferation Zhang
said, "A mechanism to fight the proliferation of nuclear weapons
and weapons of mass destruction has been created in the framework
of the SCO but we do not yet have legal documents on the
issue."
The Shanghai summit marks the organization's fifth anniversary
and Zhang said it would produce some crucial decisions. During the
summit leaders of the member countries will review the SCO's
achievements and its construction and development over the past
five years.
"A declaration on the fifth anniversary of the SCO will be
signed at the summit," said Zhang.
Important documents on the promotion of the partnership in
security and economy particularly in energy fields will also be
signed.
Zhang described the past five years as "a sowing season" saying
the next five years would see the "harvest" of the fruits of the
SCO's work.
He said the SCO planned to become more pragmatic in
strengthening cooperation among member countries to promote
economic growth. "Our present goal is to realize the free flow of
commodities, capital, technologies and services in the region
within 20 years," said Zhang.
He said the SCO would establish an entrepreneurs committee to
provide a platform for executives in the member countries to seek
cooperative partners.
"We're on the way to reaching an agreement on cross-border road
transport to facilitate multilateral exchanges," said Zhang.
He also highlighted the challenges the SCO faces, including the
"three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as
drug trafficking, cross-border crime and illegal weapons
trafficking.
(China Daily June 7, 2006)