Shared security key to SCO common home: China Daily editorial

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Defense Ministers' Meeting held in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Wednesday and Thursday, is set to further consolidate and deepen the military mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation among SCO member countries in an increasingly volatile world.

Attended by defense chiefs of SCO member countries, as well as senior officials of the SCO Secretariat and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, the meeting is one of the key events hosted by China during its rotating presidency of the SCO this year to promote the implementation of a joint initiative to build a common home for the SCO.

President Xi Jinping put forward that initiative at an expanded meeting of the SCO in Astana, Kazakhstan, last year, calling for the building of a common home of the SCO featuring solidarity and mutual trust, peace and tranquility, prosperity and development, good-neighborliness and friendship, as well as fairness and justice.

Seeking reliable security guarantees is one of the key tasks to build the SCO common home, along with efforts to establish a solid political foundation, build close economic ties, strengthen people-to-people exchanges, and promote coordinated multilateral cooperation.

Against the backdrop of the current complex and ever-changing international and regional situation, the fact that the SCO member countries are able to gather at the meeting and are willing to sit together for in-depth discussions on how to strengthen practical cooperation and maintain regional security and stability is in itself a very positive signal and demonstrates the SCO's strong cohesion and influence.

As the first gathering of its defense ministers after the SCO's expansion, the meeting, which focuses on the specific defense and security problems, including combating terrorism, faced by the SCO member countries, provided a platform for face-to-face in-depth discussions of relevant parties.

That is conducive to deepening their mutual understanding and energizing endeavors to contribute to safeguarding world and regional peace and stability and promoting prosperity and development, which have been and will continue to be a common pursuit of the international community.

The SCO member countries can play their unique roles in helping create conditions for a political settlement of some burning issues, including those related to the Middle East crisis and the Ukraine crisis, as well as properly handling some problems related to their own defense and security that some external forces have overtly and covertly been trying to take advantage of to drive a wedge between them.

The member countries of the SCO need to respect each other's respective, independent choice of development path and support each other in safeguarding core interests. In the process, they can bridge their differences, build more consensus, and enhance mutual trust through strategic communication and pragmatic cooperation in defense and security, which the Qingdao meeting stands to boost.

As Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun said, in the face of the new challenges, all SCO member countries should strengthen cooperation and coordination under multilateral frameworks, unite more like-minded parties, defend international fairness and justice, and maintain global stability.

To that end, the SCO member countries should adhere to the original intention of the SCO, promote the Shanghai Spirit, gather the strength of the SCO, continue to deepen pragmatic cooperation, and take more powerful actions to jointly create a peaceful development environment.

That the SCO has abandoned outdated concepts such as the clash of civilizations, the Cold War mentality, and zero-sum games, and refrained from engaging in closed and exclusive small circles and camp confrontations is in line with the common interests of its member countries and the vast majority of the Global South countries. That has also become the success code and unique advantage for the SCO's development and growth.

Real security is premised on the security of all countries. No matter how the international landscape changes, the SCO must hold the bottom line of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. In doing so, the SCO can make more contributions to eliminating the deficits in peace, development, security and governance.