China yesterday hosted defense ministers, including from Iran and Russia, at a meeting in Qingdao against the backdrop of a summit of NATO countries in Europe that agreed to boost military spending.
Beijing has long sought to present the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a counterweight to Western-led power blocs, and has pushed to boost collaboration between its member countries in politics, security, trade and science.
The Qingdao meeting of the organization’s top defense officials comes as a fledgling ceasefire between Israel and Iran holds after 12 days of fighting.
Photo: AFP
It was also being held the day after a summit of NATO leaders in The Hague, Netherlands, where members agreed to ramp up their defense spending.
Chinese Minister of National Defence Dong Jun (董軍) framed yesterday’s meeting of officials in Qingdao, home to a major Chinese naval base, as a counterweight to a world in “chaos and instability.”
“As momentous changes of the century accelerate, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise,” Dong said as he welcomed defense ministers from Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Belarus and elsewhere on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Photo: AFP
“Hegemonic, domineering and bullying acts severely undermine the international order,” he added.
He urged his counterparts to “take more robust actions to jointly safeguard the environment for peaceful development.”
Indian Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, also in attendance in Qingdao, said that SCO members should “collectively aspire to fulfill the aspirations and expectations of our people, as well as tackle today’s challenges.”
“The world we live in is undergoing a drastic transformation. Globalization, which once brought us closer together, has been losing momentum,” Singh said in comments posted by his office on X.
Meeting Dong on the sidelines of the summit, Russian Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov hailed ties between the two countries as being “at an unprecedentedly high level.”
“Friendly relations between our countries maintain upward dynamics of development in all directions,” Belousov said.
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