SCO members, let's talk about economic ties

• Source: Global Times
• [02:16 October 15 2009]
• Comments

Worries over invasion from the north and the west were China's top security concerns for thousands of years. It was to ward off these threats that the Great Wall was built, safeguarding the security of the Middle Kingdom. Starting in ancient times, garrisons were erected along China's far western and northern borders.

Today, China's north and west have never enjoyed more stability than they do today, as member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met Wednesday for the Eighth Prime Ministers' meeting, hugging and shaking hands.

Bringing together representatives of the six countries, which span multiple regions and together are home to more than 300 ethnic minority groups, is an achievement itself.

A poll on the Global Times' website showed only 12 percent of respondents viewed China's greatest security threat as lying along its western or northern borders; nearly half said the SCO is an effective security mechanism for China.

The SCO countries were brought together by shared concerns, but security still remains a serious challenge for all. The resurgence of terrorism in Central Asia, which affects all surrounding countries, suggests security coordination and cooperation need to catch up.

Other than building more trust, and finding compromise between different interests, ethnic issues pose a serious obstacle to regional stability and advancing cooperation among SCO members.

The SCO needs a deeper economic basis to give it forward momentum. The just-concluded SCO meeting, which focused heavily on economic cooperation, aimed to achieve that goal.