BEIJING, May 19 (APP):As a comprehensive regional organization with extensive influence, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has played an important role in preserving regional stability and prosperity and set an example for the new-type international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation.
In particular, the SCO always prioritizes maintaining regional security and stability and has made great achievements in security cooperation, not only creating a good environment for win-win cooperation among countries in the region, but also setting an example for building the community of shared destiny for mankind, according to an article published by China Military Online on Saturday.
The SCO is a new-type regional cooperation mechanism created after the Cold War. Its predecessor, the Shanghai Five, started with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan making arrangements for military mutual trust and mutual disarmament in the border area.
From the very beginning, the Shanghai Five was committed to eliminating the security hazards left from the Cold War period, and creating the new security thinking characterized by “promoting security through cooperation and solving international disputes through dialogue”. Later it expanded the cooperation to maintaining regional security and stability to great success.
Since it was established 17 years ago, the SCO has adhered to the principles of openness, transparency and not targeting any third party. It stresses partnership rather than alliance among the member states, doesn’t seek to form military and political alliance, and firmly opposes the Cold War mindset and power politics. These emphases make it an important force for maintaining regional stability.
The SCO advocates the new security outlook of “commonness, comprehensiveness, cooperation and sustainability”, and enriches the new model of international relations centered on “partnership rather than alliance” initiated by China and Russia, and offers a new regional cooperation model featuring common advocacy, priority for security and mutually beneficial coordination.
In face of the complicated changes in the international and regional security situation, the SCO upholds respect for the United Nation’s authority and the internationally acknowledged standard of international laws, opposes “violence for violence” and the zero-sum game, supports its member states’ efforts to safeguard their security interests, and objects to foreign forces’ interfering in the internal affairs of small and weak countries.
The SCO endorses the Central Asian nuclear-free-zone, and has taken an active part in advancing national reconciliation and reconstruction in Afghanistan.
The SCO member states have signed the Shanghai Convention against Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism, Counter-Terrorism Convention, Anti-Extremism Convention, agreement on countering drug smuggling, and annual plans for cooperation among the defense departments and militaries.
It has also activated a range of meeting mechanisms, such as defense ministers’ meetings, secretary of security meetings, public security (internal affairs) ministers’ meetings and border defense leaders’ meetings.
The SCO was one of the first international organizations to recognize the harm of international terrorism and announced its counter-terrorism stance.
In 2004, the SCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure (RCTS) was formed in Tashkent, which established a complete database of terrorists and terrorist organizations, organized anti-terrorism drills, and shared intelligence among the member states.
The SCO also created military cultural brands such as the series of “Peaceful Mission” military exercises and the “Fanfare for Peace” military music festival, making positive contributions to maintaining regional security and stability.
In 2018, the SCO will continue to hold “Peaceful Mission” multilateral drills in order to effectively deter the terrorist forces and extremist organizations both inside and outside the region.
The SCO has continuously expanded the scope of security cooperation. In addition to dealing with all kinds of non-traditional security threats and advocating joint law enforcement, it also pays close attention to new issues such as information security, energy security, ecological security and financial security and carries out cooperation in those areas.
Security is the foundation for development. After China put forth the “Belt and Road Initiative”, the SCO became an important platform for relevant countries to realize strategic alignment. President Xi Jinping called to create a “peaceful Silk Road”, which set higher requirements on the SCO’s security cooperation.
In the process of aligning China’s Belt and Road Initiative with Russia’s Greater Eurasian Partnership and Kazakhstan’s Bright Road program, the SCO member states deepened security cooperation, practiced the new security outlook, and moved to build a security governance model with Asian characteristics.
Standing at a new historical starting point, the SCO members will all uphold the idea of a “community of shared destiny”, treat each other as equals, help each other, and share weal and woe together in a bid to create a jointly built and shared security landscape.
The member states will stick to the “Shanghai Spirit”, strengthen practical cooperation in high-level exchanges, joint drills, military culture, education and training, improve the security cooperation system, and enhance the organization’s ability to fend off realistic threats, so as to make due contributions to lasting peace and prosperity in the region.

WASHINGTON, May 19 (APP):US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo will present a new framework next week to deal with Iran’s alleged nuclear program weeks after President Trump scrapped a deal with Iran and re-imposed sanctions in a move that drew criticism from its longtime European allies.
Secretary Pompeo will make his first major foreign policy speech on Monday after being alleviated to the post after serving as CIA Director, and he has decided to make that on Iran, Brian Hook, Director of Policy Planning, US State of Department, said in a briefing on Friday.
President Trump pulled out of the deal early this month, following up on his election promises, describing the accord as a one-sided deal he said should never have been made.
His decision drew a criticism from the European leaders who had pleaded with Trump not to scrap but instead search fixes that could satisfy him.
The unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 deal that was signed by five other major world powers “the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, China and Germany“ has been criticized by the allies of the US, which is now trying to elicit their support for a new framework that US says will address the alleged the issue in ‘totality’.
Pompeo is now trying to bring back the European allies as without their support, the US would not be able to make its sanctions biting that could bring back Tehran on the negotiating table. Iran has said it would remain in the deal.
During a briefing, Director Hook said that that Secretary Pompeo will discuss his vision to Iran’s alleged nuclear program during his first policy statement. He also said that Iran’s definitely had a “military dimension” to its nuclear program.
The US is seeking tough sanctions on Iran by its European allies, but it has not has defined a new framework as to how it wants to deal with Iran. Hook said that the Secretary’s address would precisely address the US objectives.
Responding to a question, Director Hook expressed the hope that the US would be able to bridge all the gaps between Washington’s views and those of its allies. “And so we have a period of opportunity to work with our allies to try to come up with a new security architecture, a new framework, and I think that, again, people, I think, are overstating the disagreements between the U.S. and Europe.”
He said that the United States was ready to negotiate a “better deal” and that there were a range of nations that could be a part of that.
To a question, he said that by re-imposing the sanctions that were lifted after the 2015 nuclear deal would bring economic pressure on Iran which, he said, brought Tehran to the table.
He said the goal of the US efforts is to “bring all necessary pressure to bear on Iran to change its behavior and to pursue a new framework that can resolve our concerns. And that is what we are going to be discussing.”