Welcome accent on importance of UN at SCO Summit

Sections of the international media have been obsessively focused on the seemingly unusual bonhomie in the interactions among Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) in Tianjin but this amounts to leaving out some of the more important achievements of the meet.

- BY LYNN OCKERSZ

To be sure, the more casual meetings among these leaders were marked by a notable degree of cordiality but more vital were their shared perceptions on questions such as the management of international tensions by the world community and the future role of the UN in this task.

The leaders in question and the SCO as a whole could gain considerable satisfaction from the fact that there was broad agreement among the member states of the grouping at the summit on the 'terror' conundrum. They arrived at agreements on the question which were not controversial from their viewpoint and this was no mean achievement considering some of the most recent tensions in India-Pakistan ties in particular which brought the countries to almost the brink of all-out war.

For example, the final declaration of the Summit had this to say about 'terror', besides elaborating on linked matters as well: 'The Member States strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, stress that double standards in the fight against terrorism are unacceptable, and call on the international community to combat terrorism, including cross-border movement of terrorists.'

The SCO is a prominent international forum of the Eastern hemisphere and definitions of 'terror' such as the above could be said to have solidified the unity of the East. It would have the effect of further catalyzing consensuality among the key states: India, China and Russia; which collectivity of major powers could now be seen as a counterbalance to the international influence and power wielded by the US.