It is the Shanghai Spirit and a shared recognition of its goals and objectives that have knitted together countries with different political systems, cultural traditions and levels of socioeconomic development in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It is good to see that the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Wednesday and Thursday, has harvested new fruits in that spirit.
The leaders of the member states signed and issued the Astana declaration, presented the SCO initiative on countries uniting to promote world justice, harmony and development and suggestions on improving the SCO operating mechanism, and released a statement on the principles of good-neighborliness, mutual trust and partnership, as well as a series of resolutions involving cooperation in areas such as energy, investment and information security.
The reason why the SCO has been able to withstand the test of the ever-changing international situation is that it has always adhered to solidarity and cooperation, cooperation based on equality and mutual benefit, upheld fairness and justice, demonstrated broad-minded tolerance and encouraged mutual learning.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out at the SCO summit, the organization was established at the turn of the century, when the confrontation and division left over from the Cold War had yet to be bridged. The founding members of the SCO made a historic choice to pursue peaceful development, to commit to good-neighborliness and friendship, and to build a new type of international relations.
The SCO family now covers 26 countries in three continents, with the Shanghai Spirit the common bond and action guideline for the member states. The world stands once again at a crossroad of history. The SCO is on the right side of history and on the side of fairness and justice, which is of vital importance to the world.
In the face of the Cold War mentality, which is the real threat to global peace and stability, the SCO family maintains the bottom line of security. It therefore adheres to the practice set out in the Global Security Initiative of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, responds to complex and intertwined security challenges through dialogue and cooperation, and reacts to the profound adjustment of the international pattern with a win-win mentality.
In the face of countries trying to build “small courtyards with high walls”, the SCO family is safeguarding its right to development by adhering to universal inclusiveness, jointly promoting scientific and technological innovation, maintaining the stability and smoothness of the industrial chain and supply chain, stimulating the endogenous driving force of the regional economy, and promoting the realization of common development goals.
In the face of some countries’ interference and sowing of the seeds of division, the SCO family is continuing to consolidate its unity, working together to resist external interference, and firmly grasping the future and destiny of the nations concerned and the peaceful development of the region in their own hands.
