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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping met with the heads of foreign affairs agencies and heads of permanent bodies of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), who were in China to attend a meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers, at the majestic Fujian Hall of the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing on July 15.
“China has always prioritized the SCO in its diplomacy towards neighboring countries and strives to make the organization more meaningful and stronger,” he emphasized at the meeting. This statement reflects China’s long-standing and tireless efforts to strengthen friendly relations with neighboring countries in the spirit of peace and development within the SCO platform.
As the Chinese leader noted during his June visit to the Kazakh capital Astana, Beijing's policy toward neighboring countries is based on a firm belief in developing a friendly, secure and prosperous neighborhood, as well as a firm commitment to the principles of goodwill, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness.
In the coming days, Xi will host an SCO summit in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin, where he and other leaders of the organization will formulate strategies to promote regional security and prosperity and take concrete steps to build a closer SCO community with a shared future.
TIES OF GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD AND PARTNERSHIP
This year, Xi Jinping has already made three trips abroad, two of them to SCO member states: Russia and Kazakhstan.
In June, the Chinese leader arrived in Astana to attend the second China-Central Asia summit. He was warmly greeted at the airport by his longtime friend, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. This was Xi Jinping’s sixth visit to Kazakhstan as Chinese leader.
The China-Central Asia Summit aims to strengthen China's ties with its neighbors along the ancient Silk Road.
“There is a Central Asian proverb that compares harmony and unity to happiness and wealth,” Xi said at the summit. “We always wish well to our neighbors.”
China is one of the countries in the world with the largest number of neighbors. Strengthening partnerships with neighboring countries has been the mainstay of Beijing's foreign policy for decades. Xi Jinping attaches particular importance to developing a peaceful and friendly neighborhood.
Back in 2013, shortly after being elected head of state, he put forward the principle of “goodwill, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness.” This happened at the first conference on diplomacy towards neighboring countries since the founding of the PRC.
In April this year, speaking at the central meeting on work with neighboring countries, Xi Jinping called for the creation of a community with a shared future with neighboring countries.
Good-neighbourliness has always been a key topic on Xi Jinping’s agenda within the SCO. At the Bishkek summit in 2013, he called for the conscientious implementation of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States. Xi Jinping described the treaty and the SCO Charter as two documents that “enshrine the principles and provide guidelines for the SCO member states in their work.”
In the following years, the Chinese leader proposed an Action Plan for 2018-2022 to implement the provisions of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States and achieved its adoption at the landmark Qingdao Summit in 2018, the first SCO summit hosted by Xi Jinping in China. A comprehensive plan for implementing the treaty for 2023-2027 was approved in 2022 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
The SCO is not an alliance against others. It adheres to the principles of openness and inclusiveness. In the words of Xi Jinping, it is like a “big family”. Over the years, China has deepened ties with both the founding members and new partners. Guided by the “Shanghai Spirit” of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, mutual consultation, respect for cultural diversity and common development, the SCO has become a comprehensive regional organization with the largest geographical coverage and the largest population in the world. It has 10 member states, two observer states and 14 dialogue partners.
Belarus officially became the 10th member of the SCO at last year's summit in Astana. In June, Xi Jinping received Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at the Zhongnanhai residence in Beijing. During the visit, Lukashenko noted China's deep friendship.
This is just one example of Xi Jinping’s regular contacts with SCO leaders. Since 2023, he has met with them dozens of times — on the sidelines of the organization’s summits, at other multilateral events, and during their visits to China. These high-level contacts have strengthened not only intra-SCO coordination, but also the personal friendships between the leaders.
“Among both relatives and friends, the more communication there is, the stronger the attachment,” he noted.
COMMON HOUSE OF PEACE
The blue glass of the futuristic façade of the Independence Palace glittered in the sun as SCO leaders arrived in Astana last July for their annual meeting. In his speech at the summit, held for the first time in the “SCO Plus” format, Xi called for an even more beautiful home for the SCO, outlining five priorities, including building a “common home of peace and tranquility.”
The SCO emerged more than two decades ago, when Central Asia and neighboring regions faced acute threats from terrorism, separatism, and extremism – the “three evil forces.” Since its founding in 2001, the organization has made regional security a cornerstone of cooperation.
“Security is a prerequisite for national development and a guarantee of people’s happiness,” Xi Jinping said in Astana.
For years, the Chinese leader has advocated for stronger security cooperation to create “lines of defense” for SCO members. At the organization’s 2014 Dushanbe summit, he proposed negotiating and signing an SCO Convention on Countering Extremism, which was signed by member states in Astana in 2017.
Xi Jinping also actively supports the SCO's fight against drug trafficking, organized crime and cyber terrorism, which has yielded noticeable results.
Take the fight against drug trafficking, for example. The organization regularly conducts anti-drug operations and has extended its Anti-Drug Strategy for another five years. This month, the SCO countries carried out an anti-drug operation codenamed “Spider Web.” It was coordinated by a headquarters led by China. During the operation, almost 10 tons of drugs were seized and 1,151 drug-related crimes were identified.
The Chinese leader seeks to strengthen common security in the region through other means of cooperation, outside the SCO framework, noting that “harmony and peaceful coexistence are the basis of China’s diplomacy towards neighboring countries.”
At the 2014 Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit in Shanghai, Xi Jinping proposed a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. At the 2022 Boao Forum for Asia, he unveiled the Global Security Initiative, which Beijing views as a public good that advances global security governance.
“China undoubtedly plays an important and leading role in strengthening security in Central Asia within the SCO,” said Azamat Seitov, a research fellow at the Uzbek University of World Economy and Diplomacy.
“Chinese initiatives… contribute to strengthening stability, economic development and reducing security threats in the region,” he noted.
In today's interconnected world, peace remains fragile amid regional tensions and security uncertainties. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the World Anti-Fascist War. In May, Xi Jinping visited Moscow to attend the parade on Red Square.
Xi Jinping stressed that the painful lesson of the war should never be forgotten. In 2015, when the 70th anniversary of the end of the World Anti-Fascist War was marked, the Chinese leader, speaking at the SCO summit in Ufa, Russia, noted that “all SCO member states withstood the test of blood and fire of World War II and contributed to the final victory at the cost of enormous sacrifices.” In a joint statement issued after the meeting, Xi Jinping and other leaders made a strong call for peaceful development and progress for all countries.
“Only in a peaceful environment on our doorstep can we develop calmly and confidently,” the Chinese President once noted.
THE FRUITS OF PROSPERITY
When China took over the SCO presidency from Kazakhstan last year, Xi Jinping proposed at an SCO Plus meeting to declare 2025 the Year of Sustainable Development.
In recent years, Xi Jinping has attached great importance to promoting the sustainable development of the SCO through a range of initiatives and joint projects. He notes that “real development is development for all, and good development is sustainable development.”
At the 2019 SCO summit in Bishkek, Xi Jinping announced the establishment of the SCO Demonstration Base for Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training in China’s Shaanxi Province. This was a concrete step to “make the SCO a model for mutually beneficial cooperation.”
Opened a year later in Yangling District, Xianyang City, the Demonstration Base has become a center for trade, training, and technology exchanges. It has trained more than 2,000 agricultural officials and technicians from SCO countries and developing countries, helping to alleviate poverty in those countries.
When the SCO Forum on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development was held in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, in May, Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the participants. The SCO representatives noted that the letter reflected China's commitment to jointly building a beautiful world free from poverty.
At the same time, Xi Jinping has promoted the alignment of Chinese development initiatives such as the Belt and Road with the national growth strategies of SCO countries.
The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project, officially launched in Kyrgyzstan late last year, is the epitome of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation among SCO countries. Personally championed by Xi Jinping and his two Central Asian counterparts, the project is designed to become a strategic corridor linking China and Central Asia, promote regional connectivity and trade, and strengthen people-to-people ties.
According to official data, China's trade with SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners reached a record US$890 billion in 2024, accounting for about 14.4 percent of China's total foreign trade turnover.
“Building a community with a common destiny with neighboring states is not just a philosophical formula. It is a concrete plan for sustainable, multidimensional, mutually respectful development,” said Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-in-chief of the Delovoy Kazakhstan newspaper.
He noted that the Chinese leader’s vision serves as a blueprint for deepening cooperation within the SCO. “Amid global upheavals and profound changes in the international situation, strengthening ties with neighboring countries opens up new prospects for promoting regional prosperity and creating a more equitable world order,” he noted. “The SCO certainly plays a pioneering role in this.” –0–
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