Xinhua News Agency: On June 15, 2001, the then heads of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan gathered in Shanghai. Together they announced the creation of a new regional group on the Eurasian continent – the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The SCO is the only intergovernmental organization named after a Chinese city. It has become for China the key to strengthening cooperation with the countries of Central Asia and Eurasia as a whole.

Over the past 10 years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has not missed a single summit of the heads of state of the SCO, including in the format of video conferences during the pandemic. On this multilateral platform, he shared with other world leaders his thoughts and proposals to ensure regional stability, achieve more sustainable overall development and a path to a better world.

As they say, on the right path, we achieve great things together. According to Xi Jinping, the development of the SCO, within which about half the world’s population and a quarter of the global economy are concentrated, meets the trends of the time and keeps pace with the progress of mankind.

FROM BLESSINGS THE PEOPLE PROSPER

“The three forces of evil,” drug trafficking and transnational organized crime pose a serious threat to regional security and stability,” Xi Jinping said at his first SCO summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek in 2013, beginning with a brief and clear assessment of the security situation .

The SCO was created primarily for security reasons. Its predecessor, the Shanghai Five, was formed to resolve border security issues after the end of the Cold War. Terrorism, separatism and extremism, known as the “three evils”, have loomed over Central Asia for decades, becoming increasingly dangerous after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US invasion of Afghanistan and the Arab Spring.

When Xi Jinping debuted on the SCO stage, the security situation in the region was very difficult. The rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has led to the infiltration of terrorist and extremist elements into Central Asia, making it increasingly imperative for China and its SCO partners to build strong security ties.

The Chinese leader has emphasized the importance of security cooperation at every summit and has used the word “security” more than 120 times in 11 speeches at SCO meetings. For the President of the People’s Republic of China, security is the basis of development, and stability is a prerequisite for prosperity.

“Rain makes a garden come alive, blessing makes a people prosper,” Xi Jinping quoted an Uzbek proverb at the 2022 Samarkand SCO summit to explain his understanding of the relationship between security and development.

Xi Jinping vowed to have “zero tolerance” towards the “three evil forces” and stressed the need for concerted efforts to eradicate them. He also called on SCO members to help Afghanistan restore peace and promote cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, organized crime and threats in new sectors such as cyberspace and space.

Thanks to the consistency of Xi Jinping and his SCO counterparts, the organization has conducted joint exercises and cracked down on drug smuggling for years to cut down on terrorist financing. These efforts paid off. From 2013 to 2017, SCO member states prevented more than 600 terrorist crimes, detained about 2,000 terrorists and destroyed more than 500 terrorist training camps. Security mechanisms have improved and joint exercises have expanded into cyberspace.

The SCO also became the platform where Xi Jinping outlined his new security vision for Asia – the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.

Today the world is still engulfed in wars and conflicts. Xi Jinping remains committed to preventing wars and achieving lasting peace. In 2022, he launched the Global Security Initiative (GSI) to promote global security governance.

The ISI’s guiding principle is consistent with its security vision, offering a Chinese solution to the key problem of the era.

MODERN SILK ROAD

The SCO is naturally linked to Xi Jinping’s iconic creation, the Belt and Road Initiative. All six original members of the SCO were on the ancient, vibrant trade route between East and West, and the Chinese leader has further strengthened this connection.

During a state visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013, Xi Jinping proposed the formation of the Silk Road Economic Belt, an important component of the Belt and Road. A few days later, speaking at the SCO summit in Bishkek, the Chinese President called on member countries to promote the spirit of the Silk Road.

For 10 years, Xi Jinping has used the Belt and Road as a key factor to promote China’s practical cooperation with SCO countries and accelerate development. Thanks to the alignment of development strategies, China and SCO members have achieved fruitful results in the development of infrastructure, trade and financial connectivity.

Earlier this month, Xi Jinping, via video link with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, welcomed the signing of an intergovernmental agreement in Beijing on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project.

The railway originates in Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Northwest China) and will reach Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan. In the future, it can reach Western and South Asia, becoming the main trans-Asian highway.

In his video message, Xi Jinping described the railway as a strategic project to ensure connectivity between China and Central Asia and a landmark cooperation project between the three countries under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Central Asia is located in the heart of Asia, so its development has long been hampered by the lack of ports. The new railway will reduce the time it takes to transport Central Asian goods to major world markets and will facilitate the region’s integration into global production and supply chains, stimulating its development.

The project of this road was first proposed in the 90s of the last century. Over the years, Xi Jinping has paid close attention to him. Communicating with the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, members of the SCO, he repeatedly called for joint efforts to restart this transformative railway project.

Former SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov called the Belt and Road “an important platform for multilateral cooperation” that benefits landlocked Central Asian countries, including his native Uzbekistan. The initiative gave them “a chance to freely enter the world market.”

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is only one facet of the rapidly developing cooperation of the PRC with other SCO members. Thanks to the expansion of ties, trade is flourishing. Over the past year, trade between China and the five Central Asian countries reached a record high of $90 billion, an increase of more than 27%.

STRENGTHENING CONNECTIONS

When it was China’s turn to host the SCO summit in 2018, Xi Jinping decided to host his counterparts in Qingdao, a coastal city in the eastern province of Shandong. This had great cultural meaning.

Shandong is the birthplace of Confucius and Mengzi, two Chinese sages, and the cradle of Confucianism. Ancient Chinese philosophy has had a significant influence on many Asian cultures and has deeply permeated the lives of the Chinese people and their way of thinking.

Xi Jinping greeted the SCO leaders with the famous words of Confucius: “Meeting a friend who has come from afar, isn’t it joyful?”

Xi Jinping has long advocated mutual learning between different cultures and civilizations. As chairman of the People’s Republic of China, he made cultural engagement a hallmark of his diplomacy. In his opinion, the diversity of civilizations and mutual learning supports the progress of humanity. In Qingdao, the Chinese leader for the first time announced his approach to civilization based on the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusion.

Xi Jinping has also repeatedly emphasized the need to preserve traditional culture and pass on cultural heritage to future generations. He is confident that historical and cultural heritage is a precious and non-renewable resource.

During a trip to Uzbekistan in 2013, Xi Jinping launched a joint project with the Uzbek side to restore historical mosques and madrassas in ancient Khiva, the pearl of the ancient Silk Road. The project, to which the President of the People’s Republic of China constantly paid attention, was completed in 2019.

During his next visit to Uzbekistan in 2022, Xi Jinping presented President Sh. Mirziyoyev with a miniature of ancient Khiva as a state gift, symbolizing joint efforts to restore the cultural heritage of the Silk Road.

Xi Jinping believes that every civilization is unique and none is superior to another. “We must promote mutual learning between our civilizations and strengthen good neighborliness and friendship between our countries. This will allow us to strengthen public support for the long-term development of the SCO,” he said.

COMMON HOME

“The SCO is our common home,” Xi Jinping once said. On several occasions he referred to the growing organization as a “big family.”

Both as a common home and as a big family, the SCO is always open and inclusive. It is distinguished by its non-alignment, non-confrontation and the absence of an enemy in the person of any third party. This stands in stark contrast to the exclusive clubs of nations driven by ideological bloc confrontation.

In recent years, the SCO has included new members who recognize the “Shanghai Spirit”, which is based on the principles of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, and respect for the diversity of civilizations and the desire for common development.

Currently, the SCO, which includes nine member states, three observers and 14 dialogue partners, is the world’s largest regional organization in terms of geographical size and population.

According to Xi Jinping, humanity, living in one global village, is increasingly becoming a community with a common destiny, in which the interests of everyone are closely interconnected. Therefore, at the Qingdao summit, he proposed building an SCO community with a common destiny.