Xi calls for peaceful resolutions to hot issues

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Chinese President Xi Jinping met with heads of foreign delegations attending the 13th meeting of Security Council Secretaries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing on Tuesday, calling for concerted efforts to peacefully resolve hot issues through political and diplomatic means.

Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, will host this year's SCO summit in June.

May 3, 2018: The old town in Qingdao, Shandong Province. /Xinhua Photo

The SCO experienced its first-ever enlargement in June 2017, when India and Pakistan joined as full members. After the enlargement, there is now greater potential for security cooperation among the eight SCO states, Xi said.

He stressed that the region still faces serious challenges such as the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, and he urged all the member countries to further consolidate strategic trust and strengthen policy communication and collaboration.

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The Chinese president suggested that the SCO member countries continue to uphold the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, and promote a security governance model that addresses both symptoms and root causes, so as to push forward the SCO security cooperation to a new level.

China will work together with other members of the SCO to build a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, fairness and justice as well as win-win cooperation, Xi said.

Earlier, the SCO members agreed to cooperate more on counter-terrorism and provide better security for the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Kyrgyzstan's Security Council Secretary Damir Sagynbayev said the SCO countries are willing to engage in extensive and close cooperation, enabling the SCO to play a bigger role in international affairs.

(With inputs from Xinhua)

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