"We are upset by the US unilateral decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program. China is ready to cooperate with Russia and other countries to preserve the JCPOA," Chinese President Xi Jinping said during the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held in the Chinese city of Qingdao.
The SCO summit is being held in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao on June 9-10. There are plans to sign about 20 joint-documents at the summit; the most hotly anticipated of these is the Qingdao Declaration.
"It is necessary to lay a firm foundation for ensuring peace and security together, it is important to actively implement the SCO cooperation program on fighting the three evil forces [terrorism, separatism, extremism] for 2019-2021, to continue the holding of 'Peace Mission' joint anti-terrorism drills, and to strengthen cooperation in defense and security, [in particular,] information security as well as through law enforcement agencies," Xi stated.
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The SCO, established in 2001, is currently comprised of eight permanent member states: Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia have observer status, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka have the status of dialogue partners. The organization's key goals include cooperation in the area of international security and counter-terrorism.