The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting took place on May 20-21 in Astana, Kazakhstan, to discuss the international situation and to prepare the documents for the SCO Summit in July. The meeting was also an opportunity to shore up support among the Central Asian countries and other members to the policy of global development spearheaded by Russia and China in the face of all-out Western subversion. The countries of Central Asia have also been heavily pressured by the Anglo-American faction to adhere to the Russia sanctions they have imposed in their bid to reduce Russia as a major power, and the region is still regarded by the Anglo-Americans as a region where the “Great Game” of hegemony continues. Both political pressure and “color revolutions” are in their pocket, as has been seen recently in the turmoil in Georgia. Some Central Asian countries have also had to adhere to the Western sanctions regime in order not to themselves fall under sanctions.
The meeting began with a moment of silence in honor of the fallen President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, an SCO member. At the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had an opportunity to explain the nature of the war in Ukraine. In a press conference following the meeting, Lavrov said: “We share the opinion that the SCO remains one of the supporting pillars of the multipolar world order. It is well positioned to become a driving force behind transforming Eurasia into a single continental space of peace, stability, mutual trust and progress. We covered this extensively today. The issue is about uniting the potential of all the entities in the vast Eurasian space, harmonizing their programs, primarily in matters of expanding the economy, infrastructure, and logistics, as well as security. Security can be reliably ensured only by the Eurasian countries themselves, without the intervention of extra-regional forces.
“We observe such attempts on the part of the United States, the European Union and NATO, which strive to assume responsibility for everything that happens in the region. Plainly speaking, they tend to interfere in the processes on the entire Eurasian continent. In its western part, they have taken over and completely privatized the OSCE, in which they declared the North Atlantic Alliance the main organization which everyone must obey. They are taking practical steps in this direction, including unleashing a war against us using the Ukrainian Nazi regime as a tool.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also made a forceful intervention of a similar nature. Wang was reported by Global Times as saying that currently, as the international situation is turbulent and changing, a few countries are pursuing hegemony and power, forming small cliques, establishing hidden rules, engaging in interference and suppression, “decoupling and cutting off ties,” and even assisting the “three forces” in the region (terrorism, separatism, and extremism) with the aim of suppressing the strategic autonomy of the “Global South” and blocking the revitalization path of emerging markets and developing countries.”
