The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States (hereinafter referred to as the SCO Summit) will be held in samarkand, the ancient city of Uzbekistan, from 15 to 16 September.
At a time when the global order is in turmoil and change, the movement of this SCO summit has attracted much attention from the outside world. On the one hand, the SCO will usher in the second wave of expansion in the 21 years since its establishment. SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming confirmed at a press conference on July 15 that Iran will formally join the SCO at this year's summit, and Belarus, now an observer state, has also applied to join the SCO. Not only that, Russian media reported that more than 10 countries are also willing to join the SCO.
It is worth noting that Uzbekistan's SCO coordinator Rahmatura Nulimbitov said on August 26 that the summit will be held "entirely in an offline mode" and that the heads of state of the eight SCO member states will attend the meeting in Uzbekistan. Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov also confirmed on the 6th that Russian President Putin will attend the SCO leaders' summit and conduct a number of important meetings.
What is the "charm" of the SCO, attracting countries from the Middle East, Southeast Asia and other regions to "join the group"? After the expansion, how will the SCO reorient its positioning and objectives? And how will the differences among Member States be reconciled? With these questions in mind, the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) and other media interviewed SCO Deputy Secretary-General Gregory Logvinov during the sub-forum on international relations of the Sixth Taihe Civilization Forum.
SCO Deputy Secretary-General Gregory Logvinov addressed the Sixth Forum on Pacific Civilization
Why did the SCO usher in a "wave of expansion"?
Founded in June 2001, the SCO currently has 8 member states. China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are founding members. In 2017, the SCO Astana Summit decided to grant membership to India and Pakistan, completing the first expansion. At present, the SCO region covers more than a quarter of the earth's land area and accounts for more than one-third of the world's total population.
The issue of the second expansion of the SCO is one of the most central issues of the Samarkand summit. Russia's "Izvestia" reported on August 4 that two senior sources close to the SCO secretariat revealed that 10 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, want to join the SCO. Other candidates include Myanmar, Cambodia and Nepal. In this regard, high-level sources familiar with the matter said that the SCO will soon usher in "a wave of expansion of Arab countries and Southeast Asian countries to join the organization."
"Countries wishing to join the SCO are lined up." At a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the SCO member states held at the end of July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said so.
Talking about the attractiveness of the SCO in terms of recruiting members, Logvinov explained in the interview that the core concept of the SCO, the "Shanghai Spirit", is a value that the member states uphold, such as advocating equality, respecting diverse civilizations, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Nowadays, "Shanghai Spirit" has become a common proper noun used internationally.
"The SCO is a unique international organization." Logvinov further pointed out that previously, taking into account the differences in objective conditions such as the territory, population, political system, economic conditions, and military strength of the SCO member states, some so-called Western experts predicted that the SCO would not be too stable or lasting. However, from the actual situation, the development process of the SCO in the past 21 years is a powerful refutation of this western view. In Logvinov's view, this also confirms that the "Shanghai Spirit" meets the expectations of all parties and is widely welcomed, which is why the organization is attractive.
However, in the face of the vast differences in political systems, economic development and cultural traditions of member states, how should the potential contradictions and differences between them be handled? Logvinov told the surging news that the more than 20 years of cooperation between the SCO member states show that the organization reaches consensus and solves problems through consensus, and no country imposes its position and views on another country, which ensures the political unity of the SCO.
It is worth mentioning that although the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has lasted for half a year, according to Logvinov's observation, the countries that want to join the SCO have not been affected by the situation, and their enthusiasm and willingness are still high.
How will the expanded SCO position itself?
"The world has entered a period of turbulent change, and the security and development environment facing human society is complex and severe. In the face of the many effects of the Ukraine crisis, the SCO, as the most extensive and populous international organization, should play a more active role in maintaining regional and global security and stability. On March 17 this year, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with SCO Secretary-General Zhang Mingshi's statement, which provided guidance for the SCO to find its own role and positioning under the new situation.
In the months since, Zhang Ming has made official visits to most of the SCO member states. From May 13 to June 6 this year, Zhang Ming visited SCO member states Uzbekistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. On July 15, Zhang Ming held an offline and online press conference in Beijing on the results of his trip to Central Asia. Then, from July 21 to 25, Zhang Ming paid an official visit to Pakistan, a member of the SCO, and met with Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar on July 29 during the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
In an interview with the surging news, Logvinov also pointed out that the current world has entered a period of turbulent change, prompting the SCO to constantly rethink its positioning and goals. This issue is also one of the main issues discussed by Secretary-General Zhang Ming during his visit to the SCO member states, and all member states have expressed the importance they attach to cooperation within the SCO framework.
In the political, security, economic, cultural and other fields of cooperation, security cooperation has long occupied a priority position in the development of the SCO. The SCO started with security cooperation and plays an important role in cooperating in cracking down on the "three forces" and maintaining regional security and stability. In recent years, with the increase in new threats and challenges brought about by changes in the international situation, the direction and scope of responsibility of the SCO regional anti-terrorist structure have increased. According to CCTV News, strategic security, defense security, law enforcement security, information security, anti-narcotics, anti-money laundering, and combating transnational organized crime have been included in the scope of SCO security cooperation.
In addition, the SCO member states have held several bilateral or multilateral joint military exercises within the framework of the organization. However, Logvinov made it clear in the interview that the SCO will not become a military alliance like NATO. He explained that neither the SCO's charter nor its legal documents have given the organization military attributes. At the same time, if we look deeply at the military exercises held by the SCO, we will find that they essentially serve the goal of counter-terrorism.
For example, after the dramatic changes in the situation in Afghanistan last year, the SCO held the "Peace Mission-2021" anti-terrorist military exercise. According to the news released by China's Ministry of National Defense at that time, the participants observed the "Peace Mission-2021" joint anti-terrorism military exercise and agreed that the exercise enhanced the coordination ability of the militaries of various countries to combat international terrorist forces.
Earlier, Zhang Ming also said in response to relevant questions that NATO and the SCO are different. The SCO pursues the principle of non-alignment and non-targeting of third parties, and NATO is the largest military alliance in the world today and is a product of the Cold War.