Li Zhanshu: All CSTO States are friends and reliable partners of China

In his address at the 14th plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Comrade Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, said, “With each year the CSTO is playing an increasingly greater role in ensuring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its Member States, promoting regional peace and stability, preventing and countering new challenges and threats to security.”

Li Zhanshu stressed that “over the past century, the world has not experienced the sweeping changes we are witnessing today. Coupled with the new coronavirus pandemic, they pose a serious challenge to the security and development of all states.”

Speaking about security in the region, Li Zhanshu pointed to the rapidly escalating situation in Afghanistan, and the growing “threat of terrorism, extremism and separatism. A host of uncertainties related to cross-border organized crime and drug trafficking are affecting security and stability in the region,” noted the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China.

“In this new environment, it is important to actively promote cooperation on both the bilateral and multilateral tracks in order to effectively curb numerous threats, both traditional and new,” said Li Zhanshu. He recalled PRC Chairman Xi Jinping’s words that in order to counter threats to international security, collective and comprehensive security must be shaped through cooperation, and reiterated that the PRC shares the common vision that security must be equal and indivisible.

Li Zhanshu said, “China opposes the approach where one’s own absolute security is achieved at the expense and to the detriment of the security of other actors.” He also upheld “the UN’s central role in international affairs and an order based on international law.”

Comrade Li Zhanshu reiterated the interest of the National People’s Congress in developing “flexible and multidisciplinary cooperation with the legislatures of all CSTO Member States to further develop the potential of such regional organizations and security mechanisms as the CSTO and SCO.”