‘India, Pak’s inclusion will bolster SCO’S strength’
QINGDAO: India and Pakistan’s entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will bolster the bloc’s strength, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday, as he welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain to the grouping.
Modi and Hussain attended the summit for the first time after both countries were inducted in the group last year. Delivering his opening remarks on Sunday, Xi said their presence at the meeting was of “great historic significance”.
Xi called for the pursuit of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable secu- rity. “We should reject the Cold War mentality and confrontation between blocs and oppose the practices of seeking absolute security of oneself at the expense of the security of other countries, so as to achieve security of all,” he said.
He said that the SCO members need to build a powerful engine to achieve common development. “China will set up a 30-billion yuan ($4.7 billion) equivalent special lending facility within the framework of the SCO Inter-bank Consortium,” he announced.
Making a pitch for more open trade, he said: “We should reject self-centred, short-sighted and closed-door policies. We should uphold WTO rules and support the multilateral trading system so as to build an open world economy.”
Xi’s comments assume significance as China is amid a loom- ing trade war with the US over trade tariffs
Talking about India’s inclusion in the group, a leading aca- demic said it is a sign of good momentum of India-china ties.
“It was a sign that China and India will use the good momentum to promote bilateral relations in a comprehensive way,” Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of International Relations, told the staterun Global Times on Sunday.
Hu referred to Modi’s speech at the 17th Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore last week, where the PM stressed that New Delhi does not consider the Indo-pacific region an exclusive club.
“Modi’s remarks run counter to the US’ offer to be used as a pawn to contain China, and the Indo-pacific strategy faces difficulties without India’s role,” Hu told the newspaper.