SCO Defense Ministers' Meeting held in China's Qingdao

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Defense Ministers' Meeting started on Wednesday in Qingdao City, east China's Shandong Province.

Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun will host and address the meeting, the Ministry said on Tuesday.

The two-day event is attended by defense leaders of SCO member countries, as well as senior officials of SCO Secretariat and Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.

As an important activity hosted by China as the rotating president of SCO, the meeting will further consolidate and deepen the military mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation among SCO member countries, promote the implementation of co-building the shared home featuring solidarity and mutual trust, peace and tranquility, prosperity and development, good-neighborliness and friendship, as well as fairness and justice, and contribute to safeguarding world and regional peace and stability and promoting prosperity and development, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry. 

Footage captured by China Central Television on Tuesday showed the conference hall with a huge circular table at Qingdao International Conference Center.

The emblem of China's rotating presidency takes the SCO emblem as its main body combined with unique Chinese features. A slogan of the rotating presidency "Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the move" circles around the main body in three languages of Chinese, Russian and English.

Classical patterns of cloud, thunder and dragon orientating from bronze ware of the pre-Qin period (before 221 BC) adorn the emblem's outer cycle, interlocked in the Chinese traditional Hui-style pattern, which symbolizes an unending cycle of hope.

Following the Astana summit in July 2024, China assumed the rotating presidency of the SCO for 2024-2025 and will host the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in north China's Tianjin Municipality this autumn.

The SCO is the first international organization with China as a founding member state and named after a Chinese city.

SCO Defense Ministers' Meeting held in China's Qingdao

Officials from the European Union (EU) and Finland have voiced concerns after the White House said it has been discussing "a range of options" to acquire Greenland, including the use of the military.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told a press briefing in Cairo on Thursday that the message from the U.S. is "extremely concerning," and "not really helping the stability of the world."

Kallas called on all parties to stick to international law, adding that relevant response measures has been discussed among EU members.

"The international law is very clear, and we have to stick to it. It is clear that it is the only thing that protects smaller countries, and that is why it is in the interest of all of us. And we discussed this today, as well, that we uphold the international law on all levels," she said.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on Thursday described recent remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his administration on Greenland as "worrying," while reiterating Finland's support for Denmark and Greenland's right to self-determination.

"Finland and the other Nordic countries have exceptional expertise in Arctic conditions, and we are happy to make use of that together with our North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies to strengthen Arctic security, but it cannot be done by threatening allies," she said at a press conference at Finnish parliament after an extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.

Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was "unprecedented" for threats of violence to be made within NATO against another member in connection with seizing territory, adding that such threats run counter to the United Nations Charter and that their inconsistency with international law should be underscored at all levels.

EU, Finnish officials express concerns over US remarks on Greenland