Shanghai Cooperation Organization Qingdao Summit: News and Analyses

[TaiShang]

President Xi to chair SCO summit in Qingdao

By Li Ruohan Source: Global Times Published: 2018/5/28


Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit scheduled for June 9 to 10 in Qingdao, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced on Monday.

Leaders from the eight-nation bloc will exchange opinions, forge consensus and coordinate actions, boosting the SCO's role in regional peace and development, Wang said at a press conference on Monday in Beijing.

The leaders are also expected to sign the Qingdao Declaration and documents that feature economic, people-to-people and security cooperation among SCO countries.

A focus of this year's summit will be measures dealing with the "three evil forces," namely terrorism, extremism and separatism, as well as combating drug trafficking and cyber crimes, all of which have been a priority of SCO members, Wang said.

Safeguarding regional security has been a priority of the SCO since its inception, which makes the bloc the "axis" that safeguards stability of Eurasian countries, Gao Fei, a professor with the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Monday.

While Central and South Asia still face serious security challenges, the bloc's joint efforts are expected to help ensure a sound environment for development, said Li Yongquan, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The summit to be held in Qingdao will also focus on global governance and multilateral trade systems to create a more favorable environment for the economic development of member nations, said Wang. A series of documents covering customs, agriculture, environmental protection and tourism will be signed to consolidate the SCO's consensus, said Wang.

As the US has become a powerful "destroyer" of the free trade order and the world's peace and stability are challenged by a severe wave of anti-globalization, it's important to highlight and promote multilateralism and free trade during the summit, Gao said.

Choosing Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, as the host city also shows China's determination to further open up, said Gao.

The port city is one of China's first coastal cities to open to the world. In 2017, the trade volume between Qingdao and SCO countries reached $5.82 billion, a 12.5 percent increase year-on-year, Zhang Jiangting, Party chief of Qingdao, said at the Monday press conference.

Sites for the summit are already available for use and the press center can accommodate more than 3,000 people, said Zhang. The coastal city has also enhanced security measures for the summit, and the preparations are being made so as to not disturb local people's daily life.

The Belt and Road

The summit will be the first after the SCO expanded to include India and Pakistan in 2017, increasing opportunities to build trust for multilateral cooperation, said analysts.

For instance, as India increases understanding and mutual trust with bloc member states, the country will change its perception of the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative and play a more positive role in the future, said Li.

Cooperation with SCO countries, all of which are situated along the Belt and Road route, are critical for the success of the initiative, Gao noted.

SCO could be a platform to implement new plans of the initiative as it shares the mission of boosting interconnectivity among member states, he added.

The SCO was established in Shanghai in 2001, with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as founding members. With the inclusion of India and Pakistan, the eight SCO member states now account for more than 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half of the world's population and over 20 percent of global GDP.

As international order continues to be challenged by the US and faces great uncertainty, it's the joint mission and responsibility of major powers like China and Russia to promote peace and prosperity, Gao said.

***

The SCO is a security and development-oriented institution initiated and led by China in order to ensure the eradication of three evils: Separatism, Terrorism (state and non-state) and extremism (religious, sectarian and ethnic). As China gains more capability and looks further across the region, the SCO will gain prominence.

One significant weakness of the SCO is its consensus-based decision making. The SCO should change the and, having allowed China and Russia veto power, should make decisions based on majority voting.

Then the SCO will become more agile and effective.

@Cybernetics , @Chinese-Dragon

 

[TaiShang]

Colors light up the coral-shaped bridge in E China’s Qingdao

Source: Globaltimes.cn Published: 2018/5/28

Highlights: When the sun sets, the lights come on! The coral-shaped bridge glows with different colors as dusk falls in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, on May 22, 2018. From June 9 to 10, the coastal city will host the 18th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. (Photos: VCG)

 

[UserUnknown2025]

Time to f@ck those Turkish terrorists

 

[TaiShang]

A day in Qingdao – host city of 18th summit of SCO

By Liu Ning and Li Yan (People's Daily Online) 17:55, May 29, 2018

Standing in the famous May Fourth Square, I have the perfect view of Qingdao city's skyline on one side, and Fushan Bay, home to the Qingdao Sailing Centre, on the other, which is currently under renovation for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit this coming June.

The sailing center was originally constructed for the 2008 Olympic Games, where the sailing Regatta of the 29th Olympic Games and 13th Paralympics Game were held. Since then, it has held a plethora of events from world record breaking challenges to educational programs.

Other than Fushan Bay, Qingdao boasts some of the most beautiful coastline and sandy swimming beaches that China has to offer. Every year, tourists from all over China and abroad descend for some fresh sea air and sunshine. A short climb away from the beach and you're walking among the mismatched European mansions of Badaguan. The villas, wide avenues and luxurious fountains make you feel like you've been transported out of China completely, especially thanks to many of the buildings being converted into quaint cafes and museums.

It's spring at the moment and so the city is quiet. As the summer swings around tourism in the city will ramp up, the most busy during August when people flock for the annual beer festival - the country's very own Oktoberfest.

The beer festival is a celebration of the cities favorite beverage - Tsingtao beer. The original Tsingtao brewery has been open since 1903 and the German architecture and brewing methods are still incredibly obvious. We took a couple of hours to check out the brewery museum, find out how the beer has been made for the past 100+ years, and of course have a taste!

After a few beers on an empty stomach, we were in desperate need of some good food. My colleague, Ning, took us to his favorite noodle restaurant, where he's been eating the specialty hand-pulled noodles since he was a child. Talking about nostalgic childhood memories that occurred within these very walls, Liu Ning describes these noodles as the best in the world, and local rappers even mention the restaurant in their lyrics, so they had a lot to live up to! Watching the chef pull a portion of noodles in around 10 seconds, they are quickly added to a bowl with broth and a healthy portion of beef, coriander and seasoning. The perfect quick bite to eat before heading out of town for our next stop!

Driving 36 kilometers north, we arrive at the CRRC Sifang factory, where half of all the country's bullet trains are made, and chat with some of the masterminds behind China's fastest bullet train - Fuxing. The manufacture base is a hot bed of railway innovation and design, and is a mammoth 1.77 million square meters in size - that's the size of 248 football fields!

As we drive back in to the city, it's clear to me that Qingdao isn't just for tourism or trade, but it's really somewhere that people are proud to come from. The most obvious place of this is Beer Street, where Qingdao locals gather for some late night seafood, beer and conversation.

Once the sun has set, it's time to head back to where we started this morning - the May Fourth Square, to take in the harbor lights in all their glory. As the night encroaches, a visual feast begins as the lights that have been put up all over the city come alive.

 

[TaiShang]

 

[Cybernetics]

A focus of this year's summit will be measures dealing with the "three evil forces," namely terrorism, extremism and separatism, as well as combating drug trafficking and cyber crimes, all of which have been a priority of SCO members, Wang said.

The main security concerns of the SCO member states are terrorism, extremism, separtism, and drug trafficking. These concerns have a heavier weight under SCO compared to security frameworks like NATO. NATO's apparatus was originally designed to tackle state vs. state geostrategic issues (I don't believe their original aim had changed) while SCO is state vs non-state actors.

SCO's current framework is not suitable to handle state vs state issues as they don't all have a common geostrategic adversary. The common adversary they do face however are non-state actors of the mentioned categories that undermines governance in developing countries which they all are. Russia is an in between nation with good industrial base but haven't actualised full development yet. SCO serves as a regional institution that seeks to make up for the shortfalls of domestic institutions.

Overtime SCO could evolve according to needs but for now its a regional framework for handling non-state actors. The trickle down effect of SCO however does increase certain member states' ability to handle state actor issues and can mitigate military antagonism. SCO is merely an organisation and coordination of contact points, they are not the contact points themselves.

Security is the foundation of any organization. SCO being a security orientated organization would provide a foundation for implementation of institutions regarding trade, finance, and cultural exchanges regardless of whether these successive institutions are incorporated into the larger framework or not.

 

[TaiShang]

The main security concerns of the SCO member states are terrorism, extremism, separtism, and drug trafficking. These concerns have a heavier weight under SCO compared to security frameworks like NATO. NATO's apparatus was originally designed to tackle state vs. state geostrategic issues (I don't believe their original aim had changed) while SCO is state vs non-state actors.

Definitely. The SCO's focus is on non-traditional security issues as well as the issues that relates to borders (which was the originating rationale of the SCO, in fact). I think, from then on, the organization has evolved into one of the strongest security institution, although the way it functions is quite dofferent from the hard security arrangement of the NATO.

SCO's current framework is not suitable to handle state vs state issues as they don't all have a common geostrategic adversary.

Also, I think, no side really is willing to make binding security commitments. I think the common enemy is still non-traditional, especially terrorism and separatism, but, perhaps, the SCO also notices the state actors behind non-state terrorism, such as the US, which is said now trying to create a safe haven for ISIS/AQ in Central Asia via Afghanistan to destabilize Russia and China. ISIS is now thriving in the Afghan areas where there is strong US military (base) presence. The US military provides the required safety net for terrorists to cling themselves and start recruiting and training.

It will be interesting to see how the SCO will respond.

@Chinese-Dragon , @Dungeness , @Kiss_of_the_Dragon

 

[Cybernetics]

Also, I think, no side really is willing to make binding security commitments. I think the common enemy is still non-traditional, especially terrorism and separatism, but, perhaps, the SCO also notices the state actors behind non-state terrorism, such as the US, which is said now trying to create a safe haven for ISIS/AQ in Central Asia via Afghanistan to destabilize Russia and China. ISIS is now thriving in the Afghan areas where there is strong US military (base) presence. The US military provides the required safety net for terrorists to cling themselves and start recruiting and training.

It will be interesting to see how the SCO will respond.

Non-binding security agreements keeps the organisation fluid as it evolves. Then there is the question of enforcement of the agreements. It is beneficial that the large SCO states don't always overtly act in the same manner, it enables the manoeuvring of multiple factions of state and non-state actors even if these SCO states don't intend on covert coordination.

As you mentioned, many of these non-state groups are state backed. State vs non-state actors is just a method for implementing low intensity, low escalation state to state geopolitical movements. A big aspect of SCO is dealing with state to state asymmetric warfare (terror, separatism, cyber).

Central Asia is a potential flash point. The episodes of North Africa and Levant have potential to play out in Central Asia. Many of the SCO nations would eventually have to take unpopular but necessary actions for long term security.

 

[bolo]

The inclusion of Pakistan and India in SCO is a strange move by the organizers. India is an enemy of Pakistan and China. In recent months India is pointing a towards becoming a new member in the US camp over traditional friend Russia.

 

[TaiShang]

The inclusion of Pakistan and India in SCO is a strange move by the organizers. India is an enemy of Pakistan and China. In recent months India is pointing a towards becoming a new member in the US camp over traditional friend Russia.

I think, with India, China wishes to meet at the very fundamentals. Every SCO state cares about their sovereignty and dislikes extremism and separatism. If India's inclusion to the SCO is going to help in these fronts, then, it is a good move.

Territorial disputes are bilateral but can be addressed within the SCO framework. Like how China and Russia did with respect to their own delimitation and use the SCO as a platform for confidence building.

To me, the most important task of the SCO now is to ensure that Central Asia remains terrorism and extremism-free.

Like, @Cybernetics says, this is very important and be ensured even at the cost of some not pretty-looking hard measures. But, solving terrorism and radical extremism through soft means only mean postponing the problem to arise even stronger in the future.

To wipe off extremism, the brains that hold and develop those ideas must be wiped off.

 

[Place Of Space]

Oh, it will happen next week. I still don't understand why bring the fking India into the group.

The inclusion of Pakistan and India in SCO is a strange move by the organizers. India is an enemy of Pakistan and China. In recent months India is pointing a towards becoming a new member in the US camp over traditional friend Russia.

SCO has a mission of anti terrorism, specially in center and west Asia. Pakistan can contribute influence in the region, so all the members need Pakistan in the group. Why India, who knows? Maybe after India agreed to buy a large amount of weapons from Russia, India was agreed to be in like a freebie of Pakistan join.

 

[TaiShang]

Opinion: From the Shanghai Spirit to the Qingdao Consensus

Wang Li
2018-06-11

Editor’s note: Wang Li is a professor at Jilin University. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

When the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was established in 2001, the original six states — China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — signed "The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Charter." It put priority on mutual trust and neighborliness among the member states; and joint efforts to ensure peace, security and stability in the region; and to build up a democratic, fair and rational international order.

Since then, the concepts were enshrined in the "Shanghai Spirit," which upholds internally "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, reciprocal consultations, respect for cultural diversity and common development" and externally "non-alignment, non-targeting any third party, and inclusiveness."

Chinese President Xi Jinping chairs the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, on June 10, 2018. /Xinhua Photo

The SCO has undergone substantial development and has now become a comprehensive regional organization with profound dimensions extending beyond the region. According to Mr. Qian Keming, China's vice minister of commerce, the SCO includes the world's largest country, the world's largest manufacturing nation, accounts for nearly half of the world's population and over 1/5 of global GDP, not to mention two permanent members of the UN Security Council and four nuclear powers. With eight full members alongside four observer states and six dialogue partners, the SCO has been proactive as an international cooperation organization.

The Qingdao Summit held from June 9-10 is a milestone in the development of SCO. China, as the rotating chairman of the 18th summit, called for the upholding of the Shanghai Spirit and making all efforts to resolve hotspot issues.

First, since one of the original goals of the SCO is security cooperation, seen also as the basis of cooperation in other areas, the Qingdao Summit highlighted the security cooperation as well. As cross-border organized crime, gun smuggling and Internet security have become the new security challenges for the region and beyond, the now eight full member states of the SCO agree to expand the fields of security cooperation to drug trafficking and organized crime.

To that end, China will continue to push for building an efficient intelligence-sharing system among SCO member states and offer them its knowledge and expertise in maintaining public security. As a highly integrated security organization, all SCO members need to collectively deal with the common challenges according to their shared responsibilities.

Skyscrapers at night in Qingdao City, where the SCO Summit is being held from June 9 to 10, 2018. /VCG Photo

Second, the rationale behind the SCO is that development is the basis of security, while security is the condition for development. Due to this, one of the Shanghai Spirit's original goals is to seek common development. As early as 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed to enhance cooperation along the ancient Silk Road which has since promoted policy, traffic, trade and monetary interconnectivity and people-to-people exchanges.

Later, "the Belt and Road Initiative" took deep roots and substantially benefited SCO member and observer states. As the BRI is the basic path to realizing common wealth, the SCO will not only continue to sublimate the Shanghai Spirit, but also facilitate the common development process of all the member states and the whole region.

Third, besides the security and development issues, the Qingdao Summit aims to testify to a new type of international mechanism which could be the future model for resolving the disputes between states.

For example, as the full member states of the SCO since 2017, India and Pakistan, which have been regional rivals for decades, have been asked to work together and jointly play a role in upholding peace and security in the region. The two countries have since participated in various security cooperation initiatives within the framework of the SCO and dutifully upheld the Shanghai Spirit.

It demonstrates that the SCO has been able to bridge their deep-rooted disputes and grievances. In effect, India and Pakistan have acted to converge their stances on Afghanistan, and also engaged in coordinating their anti-smuggling and the fight against terrorism within the SCO framework, which covers the actions targeting the IS and "East Turkestan Islamic Movement" in Afghanistan.

A light and fireworks show takes place in Qingdao, the host city of the 18th SCO Summit, in east China's Shandong Province, June 9, 2018. /Xinhua Photo

Now, the Qingdao Summit has successfully concluded. Yet, the "Shanghai Spirit" as a set of values will continue to inspire the SCO to pursue a "community of shared future."

In retrospect, the SCO has undergone an extraordinary development process and become a comprehensive regional organization with vast influence. Looking ahead, we have plenty of reasons to deem that the SCO will further carry forward the Shanghai Spirit to surmount difficulties, defuse risks and meet challenges. The acceptance of the spirit is also a rejection of any unilateralism or hegemony that advocates for one’s interests at the expense of others.

As President Xi Jinping called for at the end of the Qingdao Summit, "We should reject the Cold War mentality and oppose the practices of seeking absolute security of oneself at the expense of the security of other countries, so as to achieve security of all."

 

[Dinky]

To me, the most important task of the SCO now is to ensure that Central Asia remains terrorism and extremism-free.

Thats going to be hard with Afghanistan lol

 

[Cybernetics]

It will be interesting to see how the SCO will respond.

SCO would respond differently to different situations. There is the soft power component that is taking place slowly in the background backed by the hard power of respective militaries coordinated within the SCO framework. SCO militaries are preparing for small scale anti-terror and hostage rescue, as well as large scale counter militancy that might destabilize governments like that of the events that followed the Tunisian Revolution.

For the past few years SCO had been coordinating large scale military manoeuvres in a Central Asian environment. Afghanistan is currently a region to be avoided and contained. The main objective is to contain the spill over of Afghanistan.

To me, the most important task of the SCO now is to ensure that Central Asia remains terrorism and extremism-free.

Like, @Cybernetics says, this is very important and be ensured even at the cost of some not pretty-looking hard measures. But, solving terrorism and radical extremism through soft means only mean postponing the problem to arise even stronger in the future.

To wipe off extremism, the brains that hold and develop those ideas must be wiped off.

My personal opinion is that we might have to see a conflict in the region to coordinate a complete removal of the terror organizations and start nation building. Both soft and hard measure are needed. I'm not in favour of a prolonged conflict as the SCO member states are not there to destabilise and create agents of chaos but the objective is to create a stable region for future developments.

 

[TaiShang]

Thats going to be hard with Afghanistan lol

I agree. Afghanistan that is under US occupation, to be exact. The US has been enabling terrorist concentration in some parts of the country.

SCO would respond differently to different situations. There is the soft power component that is taking place slowly in the background backed by the hard power of respective militaries coordinated within the SCO framework. SCO militaries are preparing for small scale anti-terror and hostage rescue, as well as large scale counter militancy that might destabilize governments like that of the events that followed the Tunisian Revolution.

For the past few years SCO had been coordinating large scale military manoeuvres in a Central Asian environment. Afghanistan is currently a region to be avoided and contained. The main objective is to contain the spill over of Afghanistan.

I agree. That's probably why the Qingdao Declaration presented by President Xi specifically mentions Afghanistan. I think the SCO is aware of the present danger.

My personal opinion is that we might have to see a conflict in the region to coordinate a complete removal of the terror organizations and start nation building. Both soft and hard measure are needed. I'm not in favour of a prolonged conflict as the SCO member states are not there to destabilise and create agents of chaos but the objective is to create a stable region for future developments.

Yes, maybe the SCO will opt for a swift action along with a comprehensive development package. Like the article above says neatly, "the rationale behind the SCO is that development is the basis of security, while security is the condition for development." In this respect, further integrating the SCO with the BRI is very important.

China has really laid a historic groundwork, with two significant institutions competing the two wings of comprehensive development: The SCO and BRI.

The strategic mind behind this ground work needs to be applauded.

The task is still difficult and has pitfalls, but, at least, now there is a sound institutional framework and well-articulated ideas.