Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has written an article on the establishment of the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing in January 2004, calling for strengthening mutual trust and cooperation to forge peace and prosperity. The article is carried on the third page of the People's Daily newspaper Thursday, Jan. 15. Following is the translation of the article. --Ed. 

The establishment of the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing in January 2004 marks the entry into an all-round development period of the inter-governmental regional cooperation organization commonly created by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The development of the Shanghai cooperation process into an international organization is the objective requirement of change in international and regional situations and is the result of the efforts made by the above-mentioned six countries for deepening cooperation.

After the conclusion of the Cold War, economic globalization and political multi-polarization have been developing continuously, various countries have quickened their step in regional cooperation, striving to grasp the historical opportunity for peace and development, and resisting various kinds of risks and challenges. The rampant activities of the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism in the Central Asian region have threatened the region's peace and development. Various countries in the region have the common goals of good-neighborliness, friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation and achievement of stability and prosperity.

It was against this background that in 1996 and 1997, heads of state of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan met successively in Shanghai and Moscow, and signed the agreement on strengthening military trust in the border areas and the agreement on mutual reduction of military strengths in border areas, turning the long boundary lines between China and other four countries into ties of peace, friendship and cooperation, thus giving birth to the "Shanghai Five" cooperation mechanism. In 2000, Uzbekistan participated in the activities of the mechanism.

In a bid to further raise the level of cooperation and push forward regional cooperation, heads of the six states, judging the hour and sizing up the situation, jointly made the strategic choice for the establishment of the SCO in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, thus opening a new page in the history of the six-nation relations and regional cooperation.

The SCO member countries make up three-fifth of Eurasian continental area and one-fourth of the population of the world, the birth of this organization is a major event in the international relationships in the early 21st century, exerting important influence on the Eurasian continental geography and politics. After its establishment, the SCO has scored remarkable achievements in its efforts to perfect the legal foundation, promote mechanistic construction, safeguard regional security and stability and boost regional cooperation.

The SCO is becoming an important force maintaining regional security and stability. It has developed cooperation in attacking the "three forces" within the framework of the "Shanghai Five". The Shanghai convention signed on the very day of the founding of the SCO on combating the "three forces", made the SCO an international organization that first proposed cooperation in counter-terrorism and worked out plan for the purpose, demonstrating its farsightedness and insight on counter-terrorism. This organization launched its first joint anti-terrorism military exercise in 2003, early this year, the SCO formally put the regional anti-terrorism mechanism into operation, the various member states are conducting consultations on developing drug-prohibition cooperation, continuing to expand cooperation in the security field.

The SCO is an important mechanism for boosting mutually beneficial cooperation among member countries and promoting common development, meetings of prime ministers held respectively in September 2001 and September 2003, in which long-term goals were set for bringing about the free flow of commodities, capital, service and technology, plans were mapped out for economic and technological cooperation with the promotion of trade and investment facilitation as the main task at the present stage and with energy, traffic, telecommunication, agriculture and other fields as the priority orientation, and concrete measures were put forward for carrying out economic cooperation. Member countries of the SCO are geographically close to one another, rich in natural resources and strong in their economic complementariness, the use of these conditions to boost regional economic cooperation will universally benefit the member countries.

The SCO has mounted the international stage in the image of peace, cooperation and openness. Shortly after its establishment, the SCO put forward the principles of its pursuit of non-alignment, and of its actions not being directed against other countries and organizations and opening to the outside world, which have attracted extensive attention. Many countries and international organizations have expressed willingness to establish ties and carry out cooperation with the SCO. The fact that representatives of related international organizations were invited this time to attend the founding ceremony of the SCO Secretariat indicates that the organization is quickening its pace of foreign exchange, actively participating in world affairs and showing its willingness to carry out extensive dialogs and cooperation, as a constructive force, it will play a still greater role in international and regional affairs.

The fundamental reason for the continual development of the SCO in the changeable international situation is that its purposes and principles comply with the trend of the times for peace and development and the interests of the people of the member states, and that it upholds the "Shanghai spirit" characterized by "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, cooperation, respect for diversified civilizations and seeking common development. The differences of the six nations in the area of land, historical backdrops, cultural tradition and economic development, instead of hindering cooperation, have facilitated learning from one another, drawing on others' strengths to offset one's own weaknesses and making common progress.

At present, the international community generally calls for realizing democratization of international relations, safeguarding the diversity of civilization, so that various countries will benefit from the economic globalization process. The "Shanghai spirit" serves as an important enlightenment to the international community in exploring ways for the establishment of new international political and economic order featuring political democracy, cultural diversity and balanced economic development.

The SCO is an inter-governmental world organization named after a Chinese city, with its secretariat set up in China. Participating in the creation and development of the SCO is a creative move in China's diplomacy and an embodiment of China's peripheral foreign policy characterized by "being friendly with the neighbors and taking the neighbors as partners" and "establishing good-neighborliness, and tranquilizing and enriching the neighbors". It serves as an important bridge by which China strengthens its good-neighborly and friendly cooperative relations with Central Asian countries. It is of important significance in maintaining a good surrounding environment and expediting China's modernization drive. China will, as always, actively participate in and go all out to further the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The SCO is bearing the earnest expectations of the six-nation peoples for peace and prosperity, it will give a further show of its potential and role and will create still greater well-being for the six nations and the people of the world. As these lines read, "the river banks are wide when the waves subside, a boat sets sail when the wind calms down", the SCO will become even better tomorrow.

(People's Daily January 15, 2004)