Xi urges Shanghai alliance to ‘safeguard regional peace’

China’s Xi Jinping urged Russian, Iranian
and other leaders on Tuesday to work towards safeguarding “regional peace” as
he addressed a virtual summit of their Shanghai alliance.

Xi “called for efforts to safeguard regional peace and ensure common
security”, state news agency Xinhua said, adding that he urged member states
of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to “follow the right direction and
enhance their solidarity and mutual trust”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also addressed the meeting, his first summit
since a short-lived mutiny last month after the head of the Wagner mercenary
group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led a failed rebellion against the Kremlin.

Xi’s speech followed an apparent dig by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi
— who is hosting the virtual meeting — at arch-rival but fellow SCO member
Pakistan.

“Some countries use cross border terrorism as an instrument in their
policies, (they) give shelter to terrorists,” Modi said, without naming
specific nations. “SCO should not hesitate to criticise such countries.”

India regularly accuses Pakistan of helping rebel groups, and the history of
the two nuclear-armed neighbours has been mired in violence and bloodshed.

“Terrorism remains a major threat to regional and global peace,” Modi told
the eight-member SCO, which is headquartered in Beijing but hosted by New
Delhi which holds the rotating chair.

“To deal with this challenge, decisive action is necessary”.

Pakistan is also taking part in the summit, with Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif calling it an “important forum for regional security and prosperity”,
Islamabad’s foreign ministry said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

– Iran set to join –

Created in 2001 to discuss security and economic matters, other SCO members
are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with countries
including Belarus and Mongolia invited as observers.

Iran is due to join the grouping, with Tehran having intensified its
diplomacy with friends and foes alike in recent months, seeking to reduce its
isolation, improve its economy and project strength.

Encompassing a vast stretch of the globe from Moscow to Beijing, the bloc
makes up around half the world’s population — when including both member
states as well as observer and “dialogue partner” nations.

India, which also host the G20 summit in September, is walking a diplomatic
tightrope.

Uniquely, it is a member of both the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and
the Quad, set up with the United States, Japan, and Australia to counter
Beijing’s growing assertiveness.

Modi was last month hosted in Washington with all the full pomp of a state
visit, where US President Joe Biden spoke of “two great friends and two great
powers”.

At the same time, Moscow remains by far India’s biggest arms supplier — they
have been allies for decades — and New Delhi has been an enthusiastic buyer
of cut-price Russian oil during the war in Ukraine.

India, with a rapidly growing economy, has surpassed China as the world’s
most populous country and has a long-running territorial dispute with
Beijing. (BSS/AFP)