Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to maintain strategic autonomy, solidarity and cooperation and never allow external forces to turn the SCO region into a geopolitical arena.

Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks on Tuesday when addressing the meeting of the SCO Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. It was held to make preparations for the 24th meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council in Astana in July.

Wang said that amid global turbulence and transformation, a small number of countries pursue hegemony and power politics, form exclusive cliques, establish hidden rules, and engage in interference and suppression as well as economic decoupling and disruption of industrial and supply chains.

They fan the flames of the three evil forces of separatism, extremism and terrorism in the region, he said, adding that their purpose is to hold back the strategic autonomy of the Global South and block the way of emerging markets and developing countries toward rejuvenation.

Wang urged the SCO member states to uphold the "Shanghai spirit", which features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development, and to further strengthen and solidify the organization to safeguard the members' common interests and uphold international fairness and justice.

He underlined the need for the SCO countries to respect one another's core interests and engage in dialogue to resolve differences.

Wang also called for security cooperation, saying that common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security should be the ongoing dynamics in the region.

caodesheng@chinadaily.com.cn

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