Our Correspondent
Beijing
Committed to the Shanghai Spirit, SCO members have enhanced cooperation in the political, economic, security, people-to-people and cultural fields, setting an example for a new type of international relations that features mutual respect, equity, justice and win-win cooperation.
Theses remarks were made by Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China at the 20th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Beijing on Tuesday. He said that since its founding, the SCO has traveled an extraordinary journey. It has stood the test of time and become a major constructive force in the Eurasian region and global affairs.
“In the face of Covid-19, we have backed each other up to tide over the difficulties together. Such solidarity has injected positive energy into both the SCO’s steady development and international cooperation against the coronavirus, “ he said.
The President said that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated shifts in the international landscape. The world is entering a period of turbulence and transformation. The international community now faces a major test with choices to be made between multilateralism and unilateralism, openness and seclusion, cooperation and confrontation.
He said, “What is going on with the world?””What shall we do about it?” – These are the questions awaiting answers from the people of our time.
The Chinese leader said that ancient Chinese teachings tell us that “men of insight see the trend, while men of wisdom ride it”. Humanity lives in a global village where the interests and destinies of all countries are intertwined. People across the world increasingly yearn for a better life. The trend toward peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit is unstoppable. History has proven and will continue to prove that good-neighbourliness will prevail over a beggar-thy-neighbour approach, mutually beneficial cooperation will replace zero-sum game, and multilateralism will win over unilateralism.
In the current circumstances, the SCO is required to carry forward the Shanghai Spirit and deepen solidarity and collaboration. Together, we will contribute more to the stability and development of countries in the region and take more steps toward building a community with a shared future for mankind, he said.
First, we need to step up anti-epidemic cooperation and build a community of health for us all. Right now, Covid-19 is still presenting an ongoing threat. To fight the virus that respects no borders, we must take up the most powerful weapon of solidarity and cooperation, and rise up to the most imperative task of saving people’s lives.
The President said we need to support the World Health Organization’s crucial leadership role, oppose attempts to politicize the pandemic or mislabel the coronavirus, and jointly resist any “political virus”. We need to put the SCO’s health cooperation mechanisms into full use, and deepen exchanges and cooperation in epidemic monitoring, scientific research, and disease control and treatment. China proposes that hotline contacts be created between SCO members’ centers for disease control for timely updates on cross-border transmission of communicable diseases.
Second, we need to safeguard security and stability and build a community of security for us all. Security and stability are the number one precondition for a country’s development, and thus concern the core interests of all countries.
He said it is important that we forestall terrorist, separatist and extremist attempts to exploit the pandemic for disruption, curb the proliferation of drugs, crack down on Internet-based propagation of extremist ideology, and deepen SCO members’ law-enforcement cooperation. It is important that we uphold bio-security, data security and outer-space security, and engage in active communication and dialogue in this field.
China has launched the Global Initiative on Data Security, which aims to galvanize efforts to shape a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyberspace. We welcome the participation of all parties in this Initiative. The situation in Afghanistan involves the security and stability in the wider region. We need to make good use of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group to help the country realize peace and reconstruction.”
Third, we need to deepen practical cooperation and build a community of development for us all. True development is development for all and good development is sustainable. We need to be guided by the vision of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development and open up more opportunities for practical cooperation to facilitate economic recovery and betterment of people’s lives.
We need to forge greater synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative with national development strategies as well as region-wide cooperation initiatives such as the Eurasian Economic Union. We need to enhance connectivity and further integrate our industrial, supply and value chains for unimpeded economic circulation in the region. We need to facilitate reopening of economic activities through the “fast track” that steps up mobility of people and the “green lane” that quickens the flow of goods. We need to foster an open, fair and nondiscriminatory business environment for each other’s companies, and expand mutual investment among us. We need to seize opportunities from the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation to step up cooperation in digital economy, e-commerce, artificial intelligence and smart cities. Next year, China will host a China-SCO forum on the digital economy industry in Chongqing, which will provide a platform for innovation cooperation among parties. We need to put the people first, and implement more joint projects that deliver real benefits to them. China supports setting up an SCO joint working group on poverty reduction and stands ready to share our good experience with other parties.
Fourth, we need to nourish people-to-people amity and build a community of cultural exchanges for us all. Each civilization is distinct and none is superior to others. We need to promote mutual learning between our civilizations and enhance good-neighborliness and friendship between our countries. This allows us to enhance public support for the SCO’s long-term development.
We may use various forms of communication to make the SCO’s achievements more widely known and win stronger public support for the SCO vision of cooperation. We may support the Organization’s exchanges and cooperation in education, culture, sports, media and women’s welfare, and institute an all-round, multi-channel structure of deeper cooperation. China will host an SCO non-governmental friendship forum next year, and will continue to hold SCO Youth Campus events, to which 600 young people will be invited in the coming three years, to deepen mutual understanding among the younger generation and bring them closer together.
