China hosts SCO defence ministers in backdrop of 'momentous change'

QINGDAO, China: China hosted defence ministers from Iran, Russia, Pakistan and other SCO countries for a meeting in its eastern seaside city of Qingdao on Thursday against the backdrop of war in the Middle East.

The two-day SCO defence ministers’ summit has begun in Qingdao, located in China’s eastern Shandong Province.

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 strengthen collaboration between its member countries in politics, security, trade and science.

The Qingdao meeting of the organisation’s top defence officials comes as a fledgling ceasefire between Israel and Iran holds after 12 days of fighting.

It is also being held the day after a summit of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders in The Hague, where members agreed to ramp up their defence spending to satisfy US President Donald Trump.

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun framed Thursday’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 defence chiefs from Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Belarus and elsewhere on Wednesday, according to state news agency Xinhua.

“Hegemonic, domineering and bullying acts severely undermine the international order,” he warned.

He urged his counterparts to “take more robust actions to jointly safeguard the environment for peaceful development”.

Meeting Dong on the sidelines of the summit, Russian Defence Minister 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,” he said.

China has portrayed itself as a neutral party in Russia’s war with Ukraine, although Western governments say its close ties have given Moscow crucial economic and diplomatic support.