html From September 14 to 16, the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was grandly held in the historic city of Central Asia and the important town of the ancient Silk Road - Uzbekistan The second largest city Samarkand . The Samarkand Summit was held against the complex background of the continuous escalation of the SCO , the new crown pneumonia epidemic combined with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and the accelerated evolution of major changes in the international order due to the continuous escalation of the game between major powers, and the continuous escalation of the game between major powers, leading to major changes in the international order. President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech entitled "Grasp the trend of the times, strengthen unity and cooperation, and create a better future together." While summarizing the development experience of the SCO over the past 20 years, President Xi Jinping also put forward five suggestions on leading organizational development under the new situation and promoting the building of a closer community of shared future for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
In order to jointly respond to the new threats and challenges facing the world and Eurasia, the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States signed and issued the "Samarkand Declaration", discussing and elaborating positions on a wide range of grand issues such as policy communication, security cooperation, smooth trade, financial communication, mutual understanding of the people, transportation and logistics, climate change, energy security, food security, digital economy, cultural cooperation and organizational expansion, and drawing up the development blueprint of SCO to lead the organization towards a more glorious tomorrow. Standing at a new historical starting point, the SCO Samarkand Summit carries the ardent expectations and high expectations of the international community and member states, with a great mission and extraordinary significance.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization was born at the turn of the century, aiming to solve the historical border problems between China and Russia and Central Asia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and maintain military mutual trust in the border areas after the collapse of . In June 2001, with the profound evolution of the international landscape, six founding heads of state of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan gathered in Shanghai and signed the " Declaration on the Founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization ", announcing the official birth of a regional international organization that was upgraded from a forum-like mechanism to an organization in Eurasian Continent . After twenty years of ups and downs, the SCO has withstood the changes in the international situation and the test of the times after the end of the Cold War, , and has been constantly striving forward, and has achieved world-renowned brilliant achievements in the fields of security, economy and humanities. At present, the SCO has developed into a world-large new young regional international organization with eight member states, four observer states and six dialogue partners, covering more than one-quarter of the earth's land area, gathering more than half of the world's population, and accounting for nearly one-quarter of the world's GDP.
"three horses" that drives the SCO to move forward: security, economic and cultural cooperation
Security cooperation is not only the starting point of the SCO, but also an important cornerstone to support the organization's steady and long-term development. Since its establishment, the SCO has established the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the region where the member states are located as the organization's sacred mission and basic purpose. For twenty years, cracking down on the " three forces ", transnational drug smuggling and illegal weapons trafficking have been the focus of previous SCO summits. Given that the SCO member states have all suffered violent terrorist attacks to varying degrees, counter-terrorism has always been the eternal theme of SCO's cooperation and the most shining highlight of its achievements. Central Asia is the basic region of SCO cooperation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia once became a "hard-hit area" of terrorism, posing a huge threat to the security of southern Russia and China's northwestern borders. Under the framework of the SCO, the two leading countries of China and Russia have joined hands with Central Asian member states to hold regular anti-terrorism military exercises, which has greatly deterred and curbed the "three forces". In the past twenty years of development, the SCO has continuously strengthened and improved the security mechanism, and has built an unbreakable security barrier in the Eurasian region to protect the livelihood and well-being of member countries.
Economy and security are the two important "wheels" driving the sustainable development of the SCO. regional economic cooperation has always occupied a prominent position on the SCO's major agenda. Over the past 20 years, SCO member states have carried out extensive and fruitful cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, finance, transportation, energy, information, agriculture, etc. In terms of trade alone, it reflects the continuous innovation of the SCO's regional economic cooperation level. According to relevant statistics, the total trade volume of SCO member countries when it was established in 2001 was only US$672 billion, and by 2019 it was as high as US$112,515.8 billion; during the same period, China's trade volume with member countries also increased from the initial US$12 billion to US$258.8 billion, an increase of more than 20 times. In addition, foreign direct investment in SCO member states is also growing, and investment has great practical significance for improving the livelihood of member states. As China's investment scale in SCO member countries increases, a series of large-scale people-friendly projects have taken root one after another. The completion of the Anglian Tunnel in Uzbekistan and the second north-south highway tunnel in Kyrgyzstan and the completion and commissioning of the 500 kV transmission and transformation project in the Tajikistan region have given tangible benefits to the people of Central Asia. After the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed, the SCO continued to integrate and coexist with it, becoming an important platform for promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road" in member countries. After 20 years of in-depth development, the legal foundation and institutional framework of SCO regional economic cooperation have been improved day by day, laying a solid foundation for the future organization of free trade zone construction and regional economic integration.
Humanistic cooperation is a bridge and bond for building the same hearts and connections among the SCO member countries. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization covers a wide area and a large population, and the historical and cultural differences between member countries are huge, which inevitably has adverse effects on the mutual understanding and normal development of the organization. To this end, giving full play to the role of adhesives in cultural exchanges and cooperation is of great significance to eliminating differences and promoting the healthy development of the SCO. As one of the "three troikas" driving the SCO forward, humanistic cooperation has started late compared to security and economy, although it has achieved fruitful results over the past 20 years, becoming a key area and an organic part of the development of the SCO. Since its establishment, member countries have carried out effective cooperation in the fields of education, tourism, medical care and health. In 2008, the SCO Astana Education Ministers' Meeting signed a letter of intent to create a SCO university, with the purpose of cultivating compound international talents in professional fields such as ecology, energy, information and nanotechnology for member countries. At present, more than 70 project institutions in member countries are participating in SCO University, and are playing an active role in promoting talent training, academic exchanges and scientific research cooperation among member countries. In addition, the Confucius Institute opened by China in the SCO member states has become an important window for students in member countries to learn Chinese language and culture and understand China. After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the member states of the SCO have watched over each other, actively participated in global public health governance, and tried their best to build the " Human Health Community " under the SCO framework. In addition, the SCO member states also actively develop the tourism industry based on the ancient Silk Road cultural resources to enhance the mutual understanding of each other's history and culture among the people, so as to achieve mutual understanding and understanding among the people.
The current environment of the SCO is still complex and severe
The SCO Samarkand Summit was held against the backdrop of the transformation of the global order and the profound and complex changes in the international and regional situation. Since the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, relations between the United States and Europe and Russia have deteriorated sharply and continued to escalate, causing serious damage and impact on major power relations and international order. At the same time, the ever-increasing competition and confrontation between major powers has caused heavy damage to multilateralism , and the global governance system of is gradually failing. After eight years of protracted Ukraine crisis, it finally rose to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in February 2022. It not only accelerated the evolution of major changes unseen in a century, and the world entered a new period of turbulent and change, but also caused a huge impact on the geopolitical pattern of the Eurasian continent, making the challenges and situation faced by the SCO member states in the Eurasian continent more difficult and severe.
Under the combined influence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the international energy and food crisis continues to spread and intensify, making the world economy, which was originally under great downward pressure, appear to be even more sluggish and recession, which also has huge pressure, negative consequences and adverse effects on the people's livelihood and development issues of SCO member states. In addition, the security situation in Central Asia has become more severe due to the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan , which undoubtedly increases the security challenges and difficulty of cooperation among SCO member states. In short, whether from a global or regional perspective, the survival and development environment in which the SCO is located is extremely complex and severe. The Samarkand Summit faced difficulties, adhered to its original mission, made positive responses to major global and regional agendas, built consensus, and contributed positive strength and wisdom to the organization's in-depth and healthy development in the next decade.
SCO's influence expands and intensifies the international dominance of the West. There is a historic decline in international leadership.
After just completing the second decade of historical mission and achieving brilliant achievements, the SCO is currently standing at a new historical starting point, riding the wind and waves towards its third decade. Although the organization currently faces certain internal and external pressures and difficulties, this cannot conceal the broad development prospects of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The most fundamental reason is that the "Shanghai Spirit" of "equality, consultation, and mutual benefit" and the sense of community with a shared future have provided inexhaustible impetus and source for the SCO to develop steadily and for a long-term development.
is different from the barbaric jungle law of the United States and the West that adhere to the traditional geopolitics " zero-sum game " and the exclusive " Cold War thinking " of either friend or enemy, binary opposition . The "Shanghai Spirit" is highly consistent with the innovative development model of "consulting, co-construction, and sharing" upheld by the "Belt and Road" initiative. This not only fully reflects China's original thinking paradigm of participation in international cooperation, but also makes the SCO understand and support from more and more countries, and the "circle of friends" has become increasingly larger.
Expansion is one of the highlights and important issues of the SCO Samarkand Summit. In addition to accepting Iran as a full member of the SCO, the summit also decided to initiate the procedure to receive Belarus as a member of the SCO, approving the status of dialogue partners to the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Republic of Maldives, the State of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and the Federal Republic of Myanmar, and signed a memorandum of status of dialogue partners to the SCO, the State of Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Qatar.
In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, more and more countries and people have recognized the hegemonic ideas and logic of the United States and the West, and have begun to show a strong interest in the SCO, which has continuously expanded the attractiveness and influence of the organization, thereby aggravating the historic decline of Western international dominance. After another round of historic expansion, the SCO lineup is becoming stronger and stronger, enhancing its greater constructive role and strength in participating in solving today's major international and regional issues.
The effective supply of regional public products is the vitality and driving force of SCO's development
In addition to the driving and leading of spiritual concepts and cooperation models, the effective supply of regional public products is also an important driving force for the SCO to maintain its vitality and sustainable development. As one of the first and dominant countries of the SCO, China contributes to the world's global governance plans and wisdom - the "Belt and Road" initiative and the "Community of Shared Future for Mankind" concept - as an international regional public product, it not only plays an important platform and mechanism role for the SCO, but also helps promote the common development and prosperity of member countries.
, especially the global security initiative and global development initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping at the summit, are of great enlightenment for solving the crisis-ridden global problems, and also have a significant practical guiding role in the future development of the SCO that practices and maintains multilateralism.As Deng Hao, Secretary-General of the China SCO Research Center, said, the global security initiative and global development initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping are highly compatible with the SCO, providing a new conceptual guidance for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's concept of a community with a shared future, thereby leading the SCO's cooperation to move forward steadily.
(The author of this article Jiao Yiqiang is a professor at the Central Asia Institute of Lanzhou University, and has been changed from the original text)
Source: China Social Science Network
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