China will be pushing for a stronger campaign against extremism at the regional security summit this weekend, alongside its allies like Russia.
This week, Xinhua reported that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit to be held in the northern city of Qingdao this Saturday and Sunday (June 9-10), will be focusing on extremism in the region. It said: "One of the pressing tasks facing the SCO is to continue fighting against militants of the Islamic State who, following the extremist group's defeat in Syria and Iraq, have returned to their native countries, some of which are SCO members or observers."
Xinhua also reported that since 2013 to 2017, the SCO member countries have already destroyed 500 training bases for extremists and arrested at least 2,000 members of "international terrorist organizations."
China, in its end, is threatened by Islamist militants based in Xinjiang, a region embroiled in conflict for years.
China's attempts to quell disputes and stop crime has been supported by Russia and Central Asian countries; however, Western countries see China differently as they accuse the country for human rights abuses which China continues to deny.
According to Kremlin foreign policy aid Yuri Ushakov this week, the issue with the Korean peninsula will be discussed by both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Friday. However, he did not elaborate how the discussions would be done.
The attendance of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the summit, where Iran is an observer, would enable China and Russia to reaffirm their commitment to the Iran nuclear deal. The deal has rocky after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal last month.
However, the issue with Iran will not be the sole focus on the summit according to Chinese Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying and they did not want it to overshadow the summit.
She said, "We hope all parties focus on the theme of the summit."
The SCO summit will also be focusing on key arguments, including China's "three evil forces of terrorism, separatism and extremist", the mistrust between India and Pakistan, and the Ukrainian Crisis.
