On August 31 – September 1, the 10th anniversary summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in the Chinese city of Tianjin. In addition to the SCO members, 17 heads of invited states took part, as well as leaders of a number of international organizations, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Over the past two decades, trade between the member states has increased almost one hundredfold. The secret of the SCO’s appeal is quite straightforward: firm adherence to a philosophy of constructive cooperation, openness to equal partnership, non-confrontation and non-orientation against third countries, and respect for the national characteristics and identities of every people. Relying on these values, the SCO contributes to building a fairer, multipolar international order based on international law, with the central coordinating role of the United Nations.
For the meeting in the “SCO+” format, the following were invited: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Turkmenistan, Turkey, as well as international organizations.
The participants in Tianjin opposed unilateral coercive measures, including those of an economic nature, emphasizing their commitment to approaches that exclude bloc politics and confrontation in resolving problems. They stressed that the foundations of sustainable international relations must rest on the principles of non-interference in internal affairs and non-use of force.
The SCO condemned the strikes by Israel and the United States against Iran, as well as actions that led to civilian casualties and a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, stating that peace in the Middle East is possible only through a just settlement of the Palestinian question.
A development strategy of the Organization until 2035 was agreed upon, with key areas for deepening cooperation defined. A decision was made to establish the SCO Development Bank, an agreement was approved on a universal center for countering security challenges and threats to the member states, as well as on an anti-narcotics center, and a roadmap for developing energy cooperation until 2030 was adopted.
The Organization unified the statuses of “observer” and “dialogue partner” into a single status of “SCO partner,” which was granted to Laos.
The meeting in Tianjin was a step toward affirming greater justice in international affairs.
The SCO summit became a powerful demonstration of the determination of the states of the non-Western world to strive for a more equitable world order. At the center of the discussions was the initiative of Chinese leader Xi Jinping on global governance, which was immediately supported by President of Russia Vladimir Putin. The results of the summit testified to the consolidation of efforts by the so-called Global South in pursuit of greater fairness in international relations, which was particularly underscored by the reconciliation of the leaders of India and China, with the active role of Russia.
The fact that the leaders of 27 states attended the military parade in Beijing, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of victory over militarist Japan and the end of the Second World War, once again highlighted the importance of efforts to preserve the historical memory of the Second World War and to reject attempts to rehabilitate the ideas of Nazism.
Observers noted the further deepening of cooperation between Beijing and Moscow, in particular the construction of a new gas pipeline over 6,000 kilometers long through Mongolia with a capacity of 50 billion cubic meters, as well as the decision to allow visa-free travel between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.
Virtually all foreign media assessed the SCO summit as an unquestionable success of the foreign policies of the three major powers — China, India, and Russia — especially against the background of the “growing dysfunction of the West” (as Bloomberg Agency put it). Some European newspapers expressed deep disappointment at the absence of any mention of the Ukrainian crisis in the summit documents, calling this another demonstration of the declining role of the European Union.
It is telling that on September 5, The New York Times described the summit’s decisions as a “project for a new world order.”
The outcomes of the SCO leaders’ meeting were received very positively in the countries of the Global South. For example, on September 4, the Saudi newspaper Arab News noted that this gathering opened the way “for creating a new structure for resolving disputes without Western mediation, with all its biases, imperfections, and declining effectiveness.”
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is undoubtedly becoming an essential link in building a new multipolar world, a more just world order, and these issues are now emerging as central themes of the international agenda.
Veniamin Popov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Candidate of Historical Sciences
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