On May 22, 2018, President Xi Jinping held a group meeting at the Great Hall of the People with heads of foreign delegations, who were in China for the 13th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) National Security Council Secretaries.
Xi Jinping pointed out that since the establishment of the SCO, the member states have always taken the maintenance of regional security and stability as a priority, expanded cooperation fields, enriched cooperation practice, severely cracked down on the "three forces" including the "Eastern Turkistan" and actively prevented the spread and spillover of the negative effect of hotspot issues, making important contributions to ensuring long-lasting peace, stability, development and prosperity of the region. After its membership expansion, the SCO enjoys greater potential for security cooperation and shoulders heavier responsibilities, bearing more expectations from people of all countries in the region and the international community. The mechanism of the meeting of the National Security Council Secretaries should actively adapt to changes in the situation, practically perform its duties, and provide stronger support for the member states for maintaining national security and social stability.
Xi Jinping stressed that at present, the security situation in the region enjoys overall stability, but still faces severe challenges posed by the "three forces", drug trafficking and transnational organized crimes at the same time, which requires the member states to enhance awareness of potential crisis, think calmly, judge accurately and handle properly. The member states should grasp the strategic direction of security cooperation, continue consolidating strategic mutual trust, strengthen policy communication and coordination, adhere to fairness and justice, and jointly promote the peaceful settlement of hotspot issues through political and diplomatic means. The member states need to continue to uphold the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, and promote a security governance model that takes comprehensive measures and addresses both symptoms and root causes, so as to push forward the SCO security cooperation to new stages. It is necessary for the member states to beef up the action capacity for security cooperation, build a more rigorous, sound and efficient law enforcement cooperation network, continuously promote security cooperation and jointly strengthen the construction of capacity to safeguard stability.
Xi Jinping pointed out that China will continue to integrate its own security with that of regional countries, and work with other member states to build a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice and win-win cooperation, in a bid to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Secretary of the National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev of Russia and Secretary of the National Security Council Damir Sagynbayev of Kyrgyzstan delivered speeches successively on behalf of the foreign delegations. They conveyed warm greetings from leaders of all countries to Xi Jinping, and thanked Xi Jinping for attaching great importance to the security cooperation of the SCO member states. They expressed that various countries voiced support for the initiative proposed by China, as the presidency of the SCO, on promoting the implementation of leaders' consensus, jointly coping with the common challenges faced by the member states and safeguarding international peace and security. Under the auspices of China, the meeting of the National Security Council Secretaries deeply discussed issues of common concern of the member states, such as combating terrorism and the "three forces", enhancing information security and safeguarding social stability, which has further charted the course for enhancing security cooperation of the SCO and played an important role in preparing for the SCO Qingdao Summit. Under the new situation, the security cooperation of the SCO has increasingly demonstrated strong vitality. All countries stand ready to expand broad and close cooperation to enable the SCO to play a greater role in international affairs.
Guo Shengkun, Zhao Kezhi and others attended the meeting.