Chinese President Hu Jintao's three-nation tour next week will
help to usher friendly ties between China and central Asian nations
into a new age, a Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday.
Hu will visit Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia from August 14
to 18, during which he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) summit and observe an anti-terrorism military
drill in Russia.
Leaders of the six member countries will sign a long-term
good-neighborly treaty of friendship and cooperation at the SCO
summit, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui told a press
briefing Thursday afternoon.
"The treaty will confirm the SCO spirits of pursuing peace and
friendship generation over generation in the form of legal
document, which is of great significance to the mutual trust and
mutually beneficial cooperation in central Asia," said Li.
China has signed bilateral good-neighbor treaty with the other
five SCO countries, namely, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan respectively.
"The multilateral treaty to be signed this time will have more
binding force than the previous bilateral ones and lay a legal
foundation for the good-neighborly ties among SCO member
countries," said Xu Tao, a researcher at China Institutes of
Contemporary International Relations.
During the summit, to be held in Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, the
leaders will also discuss achievements scored by the organization
since the 2006 Shanghai summit, blueprint future cooperation on
security, economy and foreign affairs, and sign a series of
economic and humanistic documents.
Hu's attendance of a joint anti-terrorism military drill, the
largest of its kind since the founding of the SCO, is another
highlight of his visit.
"President Hu will observe the anti-terrorism drill in Russia,
which further shows China's will to join hands with central Asian
nations to cope with challenges left from the Cold War era, "said
Xu Tao,
The "Peace Mission 2007" drill, involving about 6,500 military
personnel from all six member countries, is being carried out in
Urumqi, capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the
Ural Mountains city of Chelyabinsk from August 9-17.
Besides Hu, heads of states of the other SCO member countries
will also observe the live fire exercise on August 17, the first
time in SCO's six-year history.
"This shows all six leaders have the common aspiration to
safeguard the peace and stability in the region, "said Xu.
Analysts say although the overall situation in central Asia is
good, the security and development environment there is worrying as
terrorism, separatism and extremism remain active in the
region.
"As a force with great potential influence in central Asia, the
SCO is shifting to cope with non-traditional security issues," Xu
said.
Experts refuted press reports in Western media on the so-called
SCO threat. "The SCO is not and will never become a military
alliance, "said Jiang Yi from the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences."The so-called threat is nothing but Cold War
mentality."
The SCO, founded in Shanghai in 2001, pledges to enhance
security, trade, cultural, military and justice cooperation among
member countries.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2007)
