SCO Summit Mulls Security under India-Pakistan Cloud

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 07, 2002

SCO Summit Mulls Security under India-Pakistan Cloud

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The leaders of Russia, China and four Central Asian countries met in Saint Petersburg Friday to discuss regional security, with their minds focused on the Kashmir feud between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan.

President Jiang Zemin held two hours of talks with his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin and others heads of countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the lavish 18th-century Petrodvorets palace outside Saint Petersburg.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which comprises China, Russia Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have voiced alarm at the escalating tension between New Delhi and Islamabad.

China expressed "deep concern" on the eve of the summit at the potential for a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is divided between the two and claimed by both.

As the largest neighbor of both India and Pakistan, China is deeply concerned at the latest developments between the two countries," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

Russia, a long-time ally of India, has sought to mediate the conflict between South Asia's nuclear neighbors, with Putin using a regional summit in Kazakhstan earlier this week to launch an unsuccessful peace initiative.

Although Putin held separate talks with both leaders, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ruled out any meeting with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, until there was an end to what New Delhi calls "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said Friday that both Moscow and Beijing "want stability in the region" of South and Central Asia.

But speaking after talks late Thursday with Jiang, Putin also highlighted developing military and economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, noting that the total trade turnover between China and Russia reached US$1.7 billion last year.

The crisis over Kashmir between India and Pakistan was likely to give a sharp focus to SCO fears of a nuclear conflict in Asia and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction on the continent, analysts said.

"SCO could evolve into an organization trying to stave off a nuclear threat in Asia," said Viktor Kremenyuk, an international relations analyst with the Moscow-based USA-Canada Institute.

"Nuclear proliferation and the risk of a nuclear conflict are going to be the main problems in the future and nuclear powers such as China and Russia, both SCO members, have a role to play to prevent these threats," agreed Alexei Malashenko of the Carnegie Center for Peace Endowment in Moscow.

India's ambassador to Russia, Krishnan Raghunath, said last month that his country wanted to join the SCO.

And the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying Pakistan had expressed similar interest.

In addition to Jiang and Putin, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov, Tajikistan's Emomali Rakhmonov and Kyrgyzstan's Askar Akayev attended the summit, which was set to end at around 2:00 pm (1000 GMT) Friday with the signature of a charter boosting the SCO's status.

The six presidents were also expected to set up a regional structure to cooperate in the fight against terrorism.

Putin recently told Chinese reporters he hoped the summit would allow the SCO to "radically increase its role in insuring regional peace and stability".

The Shanghai Group of five Central Asian countries -- Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- set up in 1996, and became the SCO when Uzbekistan joined the organization last year.

Source: Agencies

Questions?Comments? Click here

Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Begins in St.Petersburg

Jiang Arrives in St. Petersburg for SCO Summit

China Likely to Launch the Lowest SAR in the World ( 2 Messages)

China Hopes Japan Will Keep Commitment to Non-nuclear Principles ( 2 Messages)

Asymmetric Trial of Strength: Commentary ( 21 Messages)

US Taiwan Acts Jeopardize Sino-US Ties: Analysis ( 76 Messages)

'Kunlun' Jet-engine to Power China's Airforce ( 54 Messages)