Shanghai Cooperation Organization to help stabilize Kazakhstan
As the tense situation in Kazakhstan brews, China revealed that the SCO is willing to step in.
-
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, 2015. (Reuters)
On Friday, China revealed that members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are “willing to play a positive role in stabilizing the situation” in Kazakhstan, and that “Safeguarding member states’ and regional stability has always been the principle and mission of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization."
China said that one of the 9 members of the SCO is Wang Wenbin, who is a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
“China and other SCO members are closely watching Kazakhstan’s situation and are willing to play a positive role in stabilizing the situation,” Chinese daily Global Times quoted Wenbin.
Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has recently called on the CSTO to aid him in containing the turbulent situation in the country, after which Beijing released a statement.
Wenbin contended, “China has noticed that Kazakhstan is taking a series of measures to counter terrorism and defend stability. China supports all its efforts in quelling the situation and firmly opposes external forces that incite violence and chaos in the region.
“As its neighbor and permanent comprehensive strategic partner, China is willing to offer all necessary support to Kazakhstan to help it overcome recent difficulties.”
Kazakhstan will not be another Ukraine
Yesterday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed that extremists seized airports in Almaty and Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan.
The extremists, according to Lukashenko, seized the airports to prevent the deployment of the Collective Security Treaty Organization's forces. The CSTO is a post-Soviet military alliance that includes Russia.
"They set on fire everything they could, they seized the airport and did this on purpose. Both in Almaty and Nur-Sultan there was an attempt to seize the airport. This was a deliberate act," Lukashenko said, according to the BelTA news agency. "That’s because they understood that military forces would be deployed there, first of all of Russia and [other] CSTO states."
The Belarusian President also mentioned that consultations were held the entire night in Kazakhstan while also monitoring the situation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Kazakhstan cannot be abandoned as a gift like Ukraine to the US and NATO," Lukashenko said. He went on to say that although we are aware of the events that are happening in Kazakhstan, and what is more concerning to Belarus is that "everything was planned in advance."
Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the events in Kazakhstan are a foreign attempt to destabilize the country by force. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia affirmed its adherence to the obligations of the allies within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and supported the adoption of urgent measures regarding the rapid deterioration of the internal political situation and the escalation of violence in Kazakhstan.
