Conviction, Commitment, Cohesion: Xi Steers SCO to Broader Prospects

Teenage years are a critical formative period in one’s life. The same can be said for an international organization as well.

This year, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has reached such a crucial point in time, as its member states mark the 20th anniversary of the SCO Charter and the 15th anniversary of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, two founding documents of the grouping.

Yet the young sapling has come up against a turbulent world: changes unseen in a century are unfolding at a dizzying pace; a global pandemic refuses to subside; relations between major powers are undergoing profound transformation; geopolitical conflicts are sending tremors to faraway places.

The SCO has new, fateful questions to answer.

As a founding member, China’s role at this critical juncture is much watched by the world. With leadership, vision and confidence, Chinese President Xi Jinping has shown the world that the youthful SCO will grow even more luxuriant in the years to come.

Conviction — Great leaders inspire others to think big

President Xi Jinping zoomed in on the SCO’s recipe for years of success — the Shanghai Spirit, namely, mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development. He made it clear that the Organization needs to continue to follow this founding aspiration as it forges ahead. With great insight, he further encapsulated the Shanghai Spirit as five essential points — political trust, win-win cooperation, equality between nations, openness and inclusiveness, and equity and justice.

These words of wisdom address broader and more consequential questions beyond the SCO’s development: what kind of multilateralism the world needs and how international relations can be kept on a healthy track. Guided by its time-tested conviction, the SCO will continue to set an example for regional cooperation, the development of multilateral organizations and state-to-state interactions.

Commitment — Great leaders inspire others to act swiftly

What exactly needs to be done so that the young tree of SCO can stand firm against buffeting winds? President Xi Jinping underscored commitment in five areas, i.e. enhancing mutual support, expanding security cooperation, deepening practical cooperation, increasing people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and upholding multilateralism.

He pledged that China will undertake a number of concrete programs — establishing a China-SCO base for training counter-terrorism personnel, hosting an industrial and supply chains forum, setting up the China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Center, and providing fellow developing countries with emergency humanitarian assistance of grain and other supplies worth 1.5 billion RMB yuan.

He also called for continued efforts to strengthen the complementarity of the Belt and Road Initiative with national development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives, expand sub-multilateral cooperation and sub-regional cooperation, and create more growth drivers in cooperation.

Following such strong leadership from those at the helm, this SCO summit produced four substantive statements on energy security, food security, climate change, and secure, stable and diversified supply chains. More than 40 outcome documents were adopted covering diverse areas, including the economy, finance, science and technology, people-to-people and cultural exchange, institution-building and external relations.

Cohesion — Great leaders inspire others to see farther

President Xi Jinping noted that the SCO’s vision has such resonance and its future arouses such confidence that a growing number of countries have applied to join in recent years. As it continues to develop and expand, the SCO will create new dynamism for durable peace and common prosperity of the Eurasian continent and beyond. He called on member states to seize the opportunity to build consensus, deepen cooperation and create a bright future for the Eurasian continent.

Indeed, since its inception in 2001, the SCO has generated a lot of interest. Starting from six founding members, it welcomed India and Pakistan in 2017 and Iran in 2022. And more dialogue partners are getting on board. Today, it is the regional cooperation organization in the world with the largest combined population and widest geographical coverage — more than three-fifths of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half of the world’s population, and almost one-fourth of global GDP. It is not an exclusive club, but an open and inclusive grouping that is a magnate for like-minded countries.

In the historical city of Samarkand, history is being made again. This is a momentous gathering for the SCO, a milestone for the Eurasian continent, and a meeting of minds that will reverberate for years to come.

(Yi Fan is an international affairs commentator based in Beijing.)