The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), guided by the principles of the "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust, equality and shared progress, has become a beacon of regional cooperation, fostering unity and prosperity across 26 nations.
From its founding in 2001 to its record 890-billion-U.S.-dollar trade volume in 2024, the SCO exemplifies a model for global governance rooted in fairness and collective strength.
At the 2013 SCO Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized collective action, saying, "No single country can tackle the challenges alone. We must strengthen cooperation and unite for self-reliance."
As the first international organization co-founded by China and named after its municipality of Shanghai, the SCO has grown into the world's largest regional organization by geographic area and population. Xi has shaped the SCO's vision at every summit.
In 2018, at the Qingdao Summit -- the first after the SCO's expansion -- he proposed building an SCO community with a shared future.
"At a time when the world is undergoing major developments, transformation and adjustment, we must aim high and look far, and keep pace with the underlying trend of both the world and our times to push for more progress of human civilization," Xi said.
"We should, guided by the Shanghai Spirit, work closely to build an SCO community with a shared future," he said.
When attending the first "SCO Plus" Meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan in 2024, Xi put forward the important initiative of building a common home of solidarity and mutual trust, peace and tranquility, prosperity and development, good-neighborliness and friendship, and fairness and justice, charting a new blueprint for the organization's development. "The human society is standing at a crossroads of history again. The SCO stands on the right side of history, fairness and justice, and is of great significance to the world," said the Chinese president.
From six founding members to a "family" of 26 nations, the SCO's influence has soared.
In 2024, China's trade with other SCO member countries, observer states and dialogue partners reached a record high of 890 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 14.4 percent of China's overall foreign trade, reflecting the region's economic dynamism.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev highly commented on the role of the SCO in an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG), saying, "The Shanghai Organization for Cooperation has proven to be a very promising and very influential organization. And it's about China, which has greatly supported the Shanghai Organization for Cooperation from the very beginning."
"We see that President Xi's initiatives are the product of Chinese political wisdom, aimed at safeguarding the common interests of the international community. These initiatives offer vast space for cooperation and indeed hold global significance," said Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of the Russian Federation Council.
In 2017, Xi quoted a Kazakh proverb at the Astana Summit: "Where there is solidarity, happiness will follow."
Over the past 24 years since its founding, the SCO has seen its "circle of friends" increasingly enlarging, with the foundation for cooperation becoming increasingly solid. The organization has blazed a new path of cooperation and development that suits regional realities and that meets the needs of all parties, providing an "SCO solution" for global governance. "A just cause finds great support, and a journey with many companions gets far. The SCO's development accords with the trend of our times and goes along with the direction of human progress. Through our joint efforts, it will definitely grow from strength to strength," Xi said when attending the 23rd meeting of Council of Heads of State of SCO on July 4, 2023 in Beijing.
Shanghai Spirit leads SCO to become beacon of regional cooperation
