In a world fraught with uncertainties, common challenges, resurging unilateralism, and small-clique politics, the freshly concluded 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) promised unity, development, and cooperation. The summit released a slew of statements and documents on safeguarding global food and energy security, addressing climate change, and maintaining a secure, stable, and diversified supply chain. The very fact that the SCO membership keeps on expanding in addition to engaging new dialogue partners is proof of the international organization’s growing popularity and inclusiveness.

Chinese President Xi Jinping poses for a group photo with other leaders of the SCO member states before the restricted session of the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO at the International Conference Center in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 16, 2022.

Carrying Forward the Shanghai Spirit

At the SCO Samarkand Summit held in Uzbekistan from September 14 to 16, Chinese President Xi Jinping aptly summarized the successful experience of the SCO – adhering to political trust, win-win cooperation, equality between nations, openness and inclusiveness, as well as equity and justice.

The above five points fully embody the Shanghai Spirit – mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations, and pursuit of common development, Xi noted. “It has been shown that this spirit is the source of strength for the development of the SCO. It is also the fundamental guide we must continue to follow in the years to come. We owe SCO’s remarkable success to the Shanghai Spirit,” he then pointed out.

Since its founding in 2001, the SCO, the first inter-governmental organization named after a Chinese city, has been undergoing consistent development and gathering momentum. The organization, now with nine full members, three observer countries and multiple dialogue partners, has become not only a strong pillar of global peace and development, but also a bulwark of international equity and justice.

The SCO’s impressive achievements over the past decades together with its openness and inclusiveness have made the international organization appeal to an increasing number of countries. At this year’s summit, Iran officially become a full SCO member. China and other SCO members also started the procedure for Belarus’ accession, granted Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar the status of SCO dialogue partners, and reached an agreement on admitting Bahrain, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Myanmar as new dialogue partners.

The new round of the largest expansion of the SCO membership has consolidated its status and influence as the most populous regional cooperation organization representing the vastest territory in the world, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

Practices over the years have shown that the values embodied and advocated by the Shanghai Spirit have been fully recognized by the member states, said Secretary-General of the SCO Zhang Ming.

As a founding member of the SCO, China has been committed to promoting the sound development of the organization. Since 2013, President Xi has put forward a series of initiatives while participating in the SCO summits which have enriched the Shanghai Spirit. From elaborating on China’s visions on development, security, cooperation, civilization, and global governance to calling for the building of “a community of health,” “a community of security,” “a community of development,” and “a community of cultural exchanges,” the Chinese leader has played an important role in the SCO’s steady and long-term development.

Noting the growing global deficit in peace, development, trust, and governance and that human society has reached a crossroads and faces unprecedented challenges, at the Samarkand Summit Xi proposed a five-pronged proposal for the SCO to build an even closer community with a shared future. It involves enhancing mutual support, expanding security cooperation, deepening practical cooperation, promoting people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and upholding multilateralism.

The summit witnessed the signing of the Samarkand Declaration of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, which sufficiently brought in the major contents of a series of important initiatives proposed by China.

Seeking Common Development

“To deliver a better life for people of all countries in the region is our shared goal,” President Xi said at the summit. With common aspirations of the SCO members for development, the organization has grown into a major force for common development in the region and beyond.

In a statement delivered via video at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, 2021, President Xi proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI) to steer global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated, and inclusive growth in face of the severe shocks of COVID-19. At the SCO Samarkand Summit, he pledged that “China is ready to work with all other stakeholders to pursue this initiative (GDI) in our region to support the sustainable development of regional countries.” And the initiative has also garnered great support from the SCO members.

The GDI conforms to the trend of the times and the aspirations of the people of all countries: the desire for peace, cooperation and development, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov said.

The summit adopted two statements on safeguarding international energy and food security. China promised to provide developing countries in need with emergency humanitarian assistance of grain and other supplies worth RMB 1.5 billion. Xi also called on attending countries of the summit to fully implement the cooperation documents in such areas as trade and investment, infrastructure building, protecting supply chains, scientific and technological innovation, and artificial intelligence within the framework of the summit.

“It is important to continue our efforts to achieve synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with national development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives, expand sub-multilateral cooperation and sub-regional cooperation, and create more growth drivers in cooperation,” Xi pointed out.

Facilitated by the BRI, with the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway and the China-Tajikistan expressway, road transport in Central Asia has been largely improved. The Central Asian countries are also expected to unlock greater transit potential through the upcoming China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project.

The BRI gives the Central Asian region an opportunity to fulfill the strategic task of direct access to seaports and turn the region into a transportation hub of transcontinental highways spanning east to west, and from north to south, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov commented.

In 2021, China’s trade with other SCO members reached US $343.1 billion, up 40 percent year-over-year. In general, SCO members’ foreign trade totaled US $6.6 trillion as of 2021, a 100-fold increase from just 20 years earlier.

At the summit, Xi declared new moves China will take to promote common development of the region. Next year, China will host an SCO ministers’ meeting on development cooperation and an industrial and supply chains forum, and will set up the China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Center to create new engines of common development. “China stands ready to carry out space cooperation with all other parties and provide satellite data services to support them in agricultural development, connectivity, disaster mitigation, and relief,” Xi said.

Safeguarding Common Security

Xi mentioned an Uzbek proverb at the summit, “With peace, a country enjoys prosperity; just as with rain, the land can flourish.” In a globalized world, the fates of all nations are tightly intertwined together.

From signing the anti-terrorism convention and conducting joint military drills to cracking down on Internet-based propagation of extremist ideologies and pushing forward the peace process in Afghanistan, the SCO has made laudable progress in security cooperation among its members on regional and international arenas.

At the Samarkand Summit, Xi noted that the world today is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, and it has entered a new phase of uncertainty and transformation. The Global Security Initiative (GSI) put forward by China is to address the peace deficit and global security challenges. The initiative calls on all countries to stay true to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security and build a balanced, effective, and sustainable security architecture. “We welcome all stakeholders to get involved in implementing this initiative,” Xi said.

He urged SCO countries to carry out joint anti-terrorism exercises, crack down hard on terrorism, separatism, extremism, and drug trafficking as well as cybercrime and international organized crime. Xi also called for efforts to effectively meet the challenges in data security, biosecurity, outer space security, and other non-traditional security domains. China is ready to train 2,000 law enforcement personnel for SCO member states during the next five years and establish a China-SCO base for training counter-terrorism personnel, so as to enhance capacity-building for law enforcement of SCO member states, Xi indicated.

As a new type of international organization, the SCO is showing strong vitality for development and injecting new impetus into peace and prosperity in Eurasia and beyond. It is playing an exemplary role in building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.