The 14th prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held on December14-15 in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou. The meeting has played a positive role to maintain regional peace and stability and promote its development.

The SCO has demonstrated "harmony." In a bid to reinforce trust at border areas and to encourage disarmament negotiations, China along with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan founded a regional cooperation mechanism- "Shanghai Five", the predecessor of SCO in Shanghai in 1996.

With Uzbekistan joining in June 2001, the "Shanghai Five" had changed its name to the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization". In September of the same year, the SCO held its first conference in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan and initiated multilateral economic cooperation. The purpose of SCO is to promote peace, cooperation and development, which is different from other military organizations.

The SCO maintains the principles of nonalignment, mutual respect, openness, non-interference in each other's internal affairs; respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other; pursuing no unilateral military superiority; esteeming the diversity of civilizations and resolving problems through dialogue and negotiations. The SCO promotes regional peace, stability and development. The 14th prime ministers' meeting of SCO issued a statement on regional economic cooperation, taking infrastructure construction and productivity investment as priorities and promoting industrialization and modernization of the region by enlarging bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

SCO member states had held a series of joint military exercises to enhance strikes against terrorism, splittism and extremism to maintain peace and stability of the region. It has been the consensus of the SCO to combat threats in a nontraditional security domain.

The SCO offered a trial in constructing a new international order. After the Cold War, the society informatization, economic globalization and power diversification have occurred. The old international order cannot adapt to the development trends of our times.

It is a new problem and choice for the world to build a new order featuring peace, stability, fairness and justice. The SCO took the lead in exploring that subject matter.

The SCO consists of six member states, five observer states and three dialogue partners. More countries have expressed a willingness to join in. The SCO shows great vitality and creativity, representing the requirement of our times.

By Han Xudong, National Defense University

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