CHINA-RUSSIA/SUMMIT-MEETING India, Pakistan set to join security grouping led by China and Russia

Record ID: 147661

  • Title: CHINA-RUSSIA/SUMMIT-MEETING India, Pakistan set to join security grouping led by China and Russia
  • Date: 10th July 2015
  • Summary: UFA, RUSSIA (JULY 10, 2015) (RUSSIAN POOL) INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI'S CAR ARRIVING AT SUMMIT VENUE MODI GETTING OUT OF CAR, ENTERING BUILDING MODI SHAKING HANDS WITH RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER NAWAZ SHARIF'S CAR ARRIVING AT SUMMIT VENUE SHARIF GETTING OUT OF CAR, ENTERING BUILDING SHARIF SHAKING HANDS WITH PUTIN TOP VIEW OF ROOM FO
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8LT68EQUMZ1G2OYJ1IOQH0KL4
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India have started the process of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a security bloc led by China and Russia at a summit in the Russian city of Ufa on Friday (July 10).
    The inclusion of Pakistan and India marks the first time the grouping has expanded since it was set up in 2001.
    The SCO groups China, Russia and the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, while India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers.
    India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over the divided Muslim-majority region of Kashmir which they both claim in full but rule in part. Pakistan also believes India is supporting separatists in resource-rich Baluchistan province, as well as militants fighting the state.
    India applied to join the regional security grouping last year and SCO foreign ministers gave a positive recommendation when they met in June.
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came to Ufa for a summit of the BRICS group of emerging markets, and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, both attend the special SCO "outreach" session as part of the gathering.
    Modi thanked the SCO gathering for accepting India into the fold of the security bloc.
    "I would like to thank the SCO that they accepted India as a fully fledged member state. It reflects a natural path of history between us, it will also help bring peace and prosperity to this vast region," said Modi.
    Sharif called the inclusion a "turning point" for the security bloc, adding "the expansion would prove a watershed in the changing geopolitical landscape of the Eurasian belt."
    The grouping was originally formed to fight threats posed by radical Islam and drug trafficking from neighbouring Afghanistan.
    The summit, also attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, also focused on security in Afghanistan.
    Afghanistan recently began first tentative peace talks with the Taliban, a process hosted by Pakistan and with Chinese officials acting as observers. The talks are aimed at ending more than 13 years of war in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been trying to re-establish their hard-line Islamist regime after it was toppled by U.S.-led military intervention in 2001.
    "Degradation of the situation in Afghanistan is a serious concern where a decade-long deployment of international military forces did not bring a tangible improvement of the situation," said Russian President Vladimir Putin at the meeting.
    Beijing is keen to see a stable Afghanistan, worried about what it says are separatist groups in China's far western region of Xinjiang, which borders the Central Asian country.
    Beijing says separatist groups in Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur minority, seek to form their own state, called East Turkestan, and have links with militants in Central Asia, as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan.
    China says Uighur militants, operating as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), have also been working with Islamic State.
    Xi on Friday stressed security in the region was priority for China.
    "(We need to) increase the action ability, create a strong security wall in the region. We need to be more proactive in political contacts and coordination, work out response measures and together defend the security of the authorities and political regime, as well as public stability in all member states of our organisation."
    Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who briefed fellow heads of state of neighbouring nations at the meeting said extreme groups were operating within Afghanistan with the aim of destabilising the whole region.
    "Terror and narcotics. Where do the terrorists come from? A significant number of them come from your countries. And use our territory to destabilise your countries, or other countries of the region. We need to recognise the problem and acknowledge it that these are people who do not have a political problem with us, the government of Afghanistan. They have a design to destabilise our region," he said.
    Xi on Friday pledged that China would provide Afghanistan with security equipment, technology and supplies, as well as training assistance. China did not give further details on Chinese assistance, but Beijing has long pledged security cooperation with Afghanistan and has been bracing for more responsibility there as U.S. forces have scaled back.
    China says it does not seek to replace departing Western troops in Afghanistan but has promised to play a "huge" commercial role in helping rebuild the country.
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