This year’s summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be the largest since the SCO was founded, with “leaders from more than 20 countries and heads of 10 international organizations” attending, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin reported at an Aug. 23 press briefing previewing the summit. As this year’s chair of the SCO, China is hosting the Aug. 31-Sept. 1 meeting in the city of Tianjin, not far from Beijing.
When the SCO was founded in 2001, it had only six members (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) and its principal mandate was security matters. Like the BRICS, the organization has grown in both size and scope; it now decidedly includes cooperation on economic matters. Today, there are ten member states in the SCO (Belarus, India, Iran and Pakistan having joined the original six), two “Observer” states (Afghanistan and Mongolia), and 14 “Dialogue Partners” from Africa, Asia and Europe (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Türkiye and U.A.E.).
When President Xi Jinping delivers the keynote speeches at both the meeting of the Council of Heads of State and the “SCO Plus” meeting, he “will elaborate on China’s new vision and propositions for the SCO in carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit, shouldering the mission of the times, and responding to the people’s expectations,” Minister Liu reported. Xi will “announce new measures and initiatives by China to support high-quality development of the SCO and comprehensive cooperation, and propose new methods and pathways for the organization to constructively safeguard the post-World War II international order and improve the global governance system.” A joint declaration is expected to be issued by the leaders of the SCO member states, as well as adoption of a 10-year SCO “development strategy.”
Statements marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations are also expected, he reported.
The Foreign Ministry official responsible for coordinating SCO matters, Ambassador Fan Xianrong, told Xinhua that there have been “over 100 events, including ministerial-level meetings spanning various areas including diplomacy, finance and central banking, defense, economy and trade, and beyond,” preparatory to this summit.
In his briefing, Liu Bin noted that among those meetings were “a political parties’ forum, a media and think tank summit, and an art festival.” This, he added, “sends a clear message to the international community that the SCO is not a platform just for talk, but for action.”
