Kyrgyzstan President Hails "Shanghai Five" as Pillar to Peace in C.AsiaThe "Shanghai Five" is not only the cornerstone of maintaining peace and stability in Central Asia, but also a great contribution to the cause of peace of mankind, said Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayevich Akayev.The "Shanghai Five" nations of China, Tajikistan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have expanded their cooperation from political and military fields to cultural, economic and trade spheres ever since the process was launched in Shanghai in 1996, Akayev told Xinhua prior to the holding of a five-nation summit slated in Shanghai later this month. And the five nations have been working together in fighting terrorism, extremism, separatism, illicit drugs and weapons smuggling, said the president. On the situation in Central Asia, Akayev said maintaining political stability in Central Asia not only conforms to the fundamental interests of the people in the region, but also is of great significance to safeguarding peace in Asia and the world as a whole. On the Sino-Kyrgyzstan ties, the president said the two countries have nurtured good neighborly ties based on mutual trust and understanding ever since they established diplomatic ties in 1992. He stressed the importance of the border agreement signed between the two countries in 2000. On the Taiwan issue, Akayev said that his country sticks to the one-China principle and will never establish any official ties with Taiwan, which is an inalienable part of China. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |