BEIJING, December 20. /TASS/. China’s leadership sees the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an essential and constructive force to resolve international issues and will facilitate bolstering interaction between its members, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday.
"The SCO has already become a heavyweight constructive force in [the resolution of] regional and international issues. <...> It contributes to the support of peace, and facilitates regional and global development," he said at a briefing, responding to a question by TASS on China’s stance on the further development of relations with the organization’s members following the recent remarks by Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the necessity of promoting cooperation between SCO member states.
According to the diplomat, over the 20 years of its existence, this organization has regularly enabled the strengthening of ties between its member states and continues to do so. The spokesman stressed that the SCO is a "completely new format of tolerant cooperation stimulating enhanced international unity."
He reiterated that China’s representative would become the SCO’s secretary general on January 1, stressing that Beijing would actively assist in promoting the Shanghai spirit.
As the Chinese leader said last week during a videoconference with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the governments of China and Russia should provide support to the SCO member states and prevent outside meddling in their domestic affairs. According to the Chinese head of state, Beijing and Moscow supported a high level of strategic cooperation between the member states from the start and helped strengthen mutual trust between them.