Defense Minister: China Ready to Boost Military Cooperation with SCO Member Iran

By Staff, Agencies

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu has expressed his country’s readiness to bolster military ties with Iran in line with the mechanism of security cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization [SCO].

Li made the remark in an address to the 11^th Moscow Conference on International Security in the town of Kubinka outside the Russian capital on Tuesday.

"We will continue to strengthen the mechanism of security cooperation within the SCO, actively deepen defense collaboration with the organization's newest member Iran, as well as Belarus, which will soon become a SCO member," Russia’s official TASS news agency quoted Li as saying.

The Chinese defense minister added that Beijing is also prepared to hold joint drills with other countries and boost international cooperation on arms control.

“Beijing is ready to hold joint military drills and exercises with all countries, as well as find a larger space to hold drills and strengthen international cooperation in the field of arms control and non-proliferation [of nuclear weapons],” Li underlined.

The SCO was founded on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai, China’s biggest city and a global financial hub.

Iran gained full-fledged membership of the SCO on July 4, during the 23^rd virtual summit of the bloc that was hosted by India, becoming the ninth member of the influential security and trade alliance, which also includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan.

Being a Eurasian political, economic, international security and defense bloc, the SCO boasts to be the world's largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population, grouping around 40 percent of the world population in approximately 60 percent of Eurasia.

The combined GDP of the SCO accounts for approximately 20 percent of the world's total, and with Iran now being a full member, the bloc will have control over around 20 percent of the world's oil reserves.