The strongest formulations at the SCO Summit of the needed new international order came from China’s President Xi Jinping. Xi began by stating: “The SCO has been growing stronger in recent years. This means development opportunities as well as unprecedented risks and challenges. As the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore put it, `The sea of danger, doubt and denial around man’s little island of certainty challenges him to dare the unknown.’ We must rise to the call of our times.”
Xi listed five proposals for the body.
First: “We must be highly vigilant against external attempts to foment a new Cold War or camp-based confrontation in our region. We must resolutely reject any interference in our internal affairs and the instigation of `color revolutions’ by any country under whatever pretext.”
Second: “Implement the Global Security Initiative, promote the settlement of international disputes through dialogue and consultation, and encourage political settlement of international and regional hotspots, so as to forge a solid security shield in our region.”
Third: “Ten years ago I proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, and on its tenth anniversary, China will hold the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. I welcome your participation. We should work together to broaden the Belt and Road as a `path of happiness’ benefiting the whole world. China proposes that the SCO scale up local currency settlement between member states, expand cooperation on sovereign digital currency, and promote the establishment of an SCO development bank.”
Fourth: “All nations in the region aspire to see harmonious development of different civilizations. We welcome all sides to work together to implement the Global Civilization Initiative.”
And fifth: “Advance modernization of the entire humanity through collective efforts to promote equal rights, equal opportunities and fair rules for all.”
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is under attack through “a hybrid war, with illegitimate anti-Russian sanctions that are unprecedented in scale…. Geopolitical discord grows bigger, the degradation of the international security system continues, risks of a new global economic and financial crisis increase against the backdrop of an uncontrolled debt accumulation by developed countries, social divide and growth of poverty all over the world, deterioration of food and environmental security. All these issues, with every one of them being complex and diverse in its own way, together lead to a significant increase in conflict potential. Russia is experiencing all of this right now.”
As for measures to address the financial crisis, Putin said: “We are making wider use of national currencies for mutual settlements. In particular, over 80 percent of commercial transactions between Russia and the People’s Republic of China are made in rubles and yuan…. Russia has been very active in implementing the SCO roadmap for the transition to national currencies in mutual trade… to take coordinated measures to remove regulatory barriers, to establish the necessary payment infrastructure and to create an independent financial system.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the participants, noting that “the thousands of years old cultural and people-to-people ties between India and this region are a living testament to our shared heritage. We do not see this area as an `extended neighborhood,’ but as an `extended family’.”
He stated: “The present times mark a crucial phase in global affairs. In a world surrounded by conflicts, tensions and pandemics; food, fuel, and fertilizer crises is [sic] a significant challenge for all nations. We should collectively ponder upon whether we are capable, as an organization, of fulfilling the aspirations and expectations of our people?”
(More extensive excerpts of the Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin speeches can be found in the Documentation section of the Morning Briefing.)
