Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Tuesday for members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to maintain strategic autonomy, solidarity and cooperation and never allow external forces to turn the region into a geopolitical arena.

Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when addressing the meeting of the SCO Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

He said that, amid the turbulence and transformation of international situation, a small number of countries pursue hegemony and power politics, form exclusive cliques, establish hidden rules, engage in interference and suppression as well as economic decoupling and disruption of industrial and supply chains.

They even fan the flames of the three evil forces of separatism, extremism and terrorism in the region, he said, adding that their purpose is to hold back the strategic autonomy of the Global South and block the way of emerging markets and developing countries toward rejuvenation.

Wang urged the SCO countries to uphold the "Shanghai Spirit", which features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development, and further strengthen and solidify the organization to safeguard the members’ common interests and uphold international fairness and justice.

He underlined the need for the SCO countries to respect each other's core interests and engage in dialogue to resolve differences.

The SCO countries should firmly hold their future and destiny as well as peace and development in the region in their own hands, he added.

Wang called for security cooperation, saying that common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security should be ongoing dynamics in the region.

The SCO countries should, taking the Global Security Initiative as a guide, work with the international community to solve security challenges, eliminate the root causes of conflicts, play a leading role in global security governance and contribute to promoting world peace, he said.