On July 2, President Xi Jinping arrived in Astana by special plane. During the five-day trip, Xi Jinping will attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and pay state visits to the two countries at the invitation of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan and President Rahmon, President of the Republic of Tajikistan.
President Xi Jinping's visit is another major diplomatic activity for China toward Central Asian countries and the Eurasian continent. In particular, the upcoming 24th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States has attracted great public attention.
Every year since 2013, President Xi Jinping has attended the SCO summit and delivered important speeches, providing ideological guidance for the development and growth of the SCO. It is reported that during the SCO summit, he will discuss development plans with leaders of regional countries, build consensus on cooperation, and inject more positive energy and new impetus into maintaining peace and prosperity in the Eurasian continent and the world.
At a regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 1, spokesperson Mao Ning said that the summit is the most important event within the framework of the SCO this year. China believes that this summit will build consensus among all parties, write a new chapter in cooperation, and make positive contributions to promoting the security, stability, development and rejuvenation of all countries and building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Kazakhstan's Astana Times newspaper commented that the SCO has grown from a regional organization consisting of China, Russia and Central Asian countries to a transregional organization with many member states and dialogue partners, according to a commentary in Kazakhstan's "Astana Times". As the SCO continues to grow, it will increasingly have the ability to redefine the global landscape.
So, what are the highlights of the 24th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States?
Aspect 1: The growing "SCO family"
Since its birth at the beginning of the 21st century on the banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, the SCO has grown from the original "Shanghai Five" to the world. At present, the SCO has 9 full member states, 3 observer states and 14 dialogue partners. The nine full member states are: Kazakhstan, India, Iran, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Belarus is an observer state with Mongolia and Afghanistan.
It is reported that the SCO is expected to welcome a new member at the summit. According to TASS, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who recently visited Belarus, said that the top priority of the summit is to admit Belarus as a full member.
Kazakhstan News Agency reported on June 30 that Belarus has been participating in the work of the SCO since 2010, and that Belarus's accession to the SCO as a full member is a logical step, from dialogue partner to observer state.
In this regard, the Belarusian News Agency analyzed that Belarus's formal accession to the SCO as a European country will expand the geographical coverage of the organization, enhance the overall development potential and influence, and inject additional important impetus into the organization.
"It can be expected that Belarus will officially become the 10th member state during the summit." SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming said that in addition to the current member states and observer states, the SCO has received applications from a number of countries in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions to actively seek to join the SCO family. This fully shows that the "Shanghai spirit" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the development prospects are widely optimistic.
"The debut of the so-called 'SCO 10' is one of the highlights of this summit." Zhao Long, deputy director of the Institute of Global Governance at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, said that the SCO member states will account for nearly half of the world's population and about a quarter of the world's economy. Therefore, how the leaders of the member states can carry out strategic communication and coordination on current major international and regional issues, and how to deal with the global security deficit, development deficit and governance deficit, has aroused the attention of all walks of life.
It is worth noting that, in addition to the debut of the SCO 10, the summit will be held for the first time in the form of "SCO +". Member States, observer states, dialogue partners and UN Secretary-General António Guterres will participate.
In fact, the SCO and the UN have been partners for 20 years and have observer status in the UN General Assembly. In 2010, the two sides signed a joint declaration on cooperation between the UN and the SCO Secretariat. On 1 September 2023, at the initiative of Kazakhstan, the plenary session of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on cooperation between the UN and the SCO. Therefore, the UN's participation in the SCO summit is regarded as "logical" by the outside world.
Commenting on the new format of the SCO+ initiative, former SCO Secretary-General Sergei Norov said that the summit may open up new opportunities for cooperation among the SCO member states, bring concrete and far-reaching results, and further enhance the role and influence of the SCO in the international arena.
"The SCO's concept of cooperation is distinctive, many of which are China's diplomatic initiatives, and China's special role in the SCO has been praised and highly praised by the international community." Zhao Long further stressed that President Xi Jinping's participation in the meeting will continue to unite the SCO, stimulate the SCO's potential, and promote the upgrading of cooperation in the economic, security, people-to-people and other fields.
Aspect 2: "win-win cooperation" is unstoppable
The theme of the SCO Summit is "Strengthening Multilateral Dialogue – Pursuing Sustainable Peace and Development".
Over the past 20 years since its establishment, the SCO has grown in terms of the number of member states, the fields and depth of cooperation, and has become a "stable anchor" for security and an "accelerator" for development, which has been widely recognized by the international community.
According to the data, since its establishment in 2001, the total trade value of the SCO member states has increased almost tenfold in 20 years, and its share of global trade has increased from 5.4% in 2001 to 17.5% in 2020. The trade of the SCO member states continues to expand, and the influence of global trade continues to grow.
Just last month, the signing ceremony of the agreement between the three governments of the three countries on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project was held in Beijing. This high-profile railway is moving from idea to reality, benefiting not only the people of China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, but also regional connectivity. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway can be said to be one of the examples of the unity, cooperation, openness and win-win situation of the "SCO family".
In addition, the maintenance of regional peace and common security are the foundation of the SCO. In recent years, the SCO member states have carried out effective cooperation in the areas of jointly combating the "three forces", jointly curbing the spread of drugs, protecting data security, held a number of joint counter-terrorism exercises, and established a coordination and cooperation mechanism among Afghanistan's neighbors, and have continuously improved their ability to defuse regional security risks.
At the summit, important documents such as the Programme of Cooperation of the SCO Member States in Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism for 2025-2027, the SCO Anti-Narcotics Strategy for 2024-2029 and the Programme of Action for its Implementation will be signed. In order to maintain regional peace and ensure common security, "escort".
In addition, in terms of people-to-people exchanges, in addition to official cooperation mechanisms, a number of member countries have also established people-to-people exchange mechanisms, and various activities have been held one after another, and people-to-people exchanges have flourished.
The role of the SCO in the three pillars of security, economy and people-to-people cooperation has also attracted the attention and praise of the international community.
The general trend of "peaceful development and win-win cooperation" is unstoppable. Zhao Long stressed that the SCO is based on the "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and the pursuit of common development, and is in line with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, setting an example of a new type of international relations and a new type of regional cooperation. At the same time, the SCO's commitment to preventing a "geopolitical disconnect" between East and West is widely recognized by the Global South.
Aspect 3: What will China do when it takes over the rotating presidency?
After the Astana summit, China will take over the SCO presidency for 2024-2025, the first time in seven years that China will hold the SCO. The Chinese side expressed its readiness to work with all parties to further deepen cooperation in the political, security, economic and trade and people-to-people fields under the guidance of the Shanghai Spirit, and promote the high-quality development of the SCO.
"At this critical stage of reshaping the global governance system, the SCO is of great significance for regional stability and development." Zhao Long said that China has long been regarded as one of the engines of the development and growth of the SCO, and in addition to upholding the concept of good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation, it has also promoted important initiatives such as a new security concept, a new development concept, and the building of a community with a shared future for the SCO. This has enabled the SCO to expand from a single border trust mechanism to a comprehensive platform covering four pillars: politics, security, economy and culture.
As the next rotating chairman, Zhao Long believes that China will play a more important role in two aspects. On the one hand, it will increase the momentum of practical cooperation in the SCO. In the face of the politicization, security and weaponization of the development agenda as a result of some countries' advocacy of extreme competition among major powers, China will continue to focus on practical cooperation in the SCO, stimulate the advantages and complementary needs of the SCO member states in traditional areas of cooperation such as infrastructure, connectivity, trade and investment, and agriculture, as well as explore the advantages and complementary needs of the member states in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, digital economy and green transformation, and find concrete ways to enhance the momentum of cooperation and expand economic dividends and demonstration effects.
Second, Zhao believes that China will unleash the potential of the SCO's agenda. With the further expansion of the SCO, the organization constitutes a huge consumer market and space for connectivity, but there may be differences in demand and policy priorities. This requires China's rotating presidency to continue and link the existing political, security, economic, and people-to-people cooperation agenda on the basis of convergence of interests, and strive to form a new round of cooperation lists on energy transition, green innovation, digital economy, and ecological environment.
In general, in the face of the multiple political, security, development and governance challenges brought about by the world entering a period of turbulence and change, the vast number of developing countries and emerging economies have strengthened their confidence in jointly promoting an equal and orderly multipolarization in the world. There is also a stronger need for multilateral cooperation and institutional arrangements that embody fairness, inclusiveness and win-win results.
Therefore, Zhao Long stressed that as the SCO enters the "China time", the strong momentum for its continued development will be further revealed.
(Take a look at the news Knews reporter Zhou Wenfei)