欧

On September 1 local time, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where he delivered an important speech titled "Advancing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Toward Higher-Quality Development." The meeting was the centerpiece of Xi's multi-nation trip: from August 30 to September 3, he paid state visits to Kyrgyzstan and Egypt and attended a series of summit events, all timed around the SCO's 25th anniversary.

Around the summit, Xi also paid a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, his first in seven years. At the invitation of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Xi published a signed article titled "Working Together to Open a New Horizon for High-Quality Development of China-Kyrgyzstan Relations" in Kyrgyz media ahead of the visit. The article noted that in the 34 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China-Kyrgyzstan relations have maintained healthy and stable development and have been elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era, with bilateral cooperation entering a "golden period" in recent years as trade volume and people-to-people exchanges reached record highs. During the visit, the two leaders held in-depth discussions on deepening political mutual trust, expanding all-round mutually beneficial cooperation, and advancing people-to-people ties, jointly charting the future course of a China-Kyrgyzstan community with a shared future.

The SCO traces its roots to the "Shanghai Five" mechanism established in 1996 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to resolve border issues and build military trust. In June 2001, the five countries and Uzbekistan signed the Declaration on the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Shanghai, formally founding the bloc. Since then, the organisation has expanded through several rounds: India and Pakistan joined in 2017, Iran in 2023, and Belarus in 2024, bringing membership from an original six to ten states, alongside observer states and dialogue partners including Mongolia, Afghanistan and Turkey. The SCO now covers nearly half the world's population and about a quarter of global economic output, making it one of the largest comprehensive regional cooperation organisations in Eurasia.

In his speech, Xi put forward a four-point proposal charting the SCO's future direction. First, prioritise development and champion inclusive, mutually beneficial economic globalisation, consolidating cooperation in traditional areas such as trade, investment, connectivity and energy resources while expanding cooperation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy, green industry and green mining. Second, China is ready to help build the SCO into an important platform for implementing the Global Security Initiative. Third, China is willing to work with all parties to implement the Global Civilization Initiative and supports the SCO in playing an exemplary role in implementing the Global Governance Initiative. Fourth, China regards the SCO as a priority area for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and for implementing the Global Development Initiative. Xi also announced that China will establish an international cooperation centre on AI applications for SCO countries, set up a China-SCO port economy cooperation centre in Tianjin, and jointly carry out 100 science and technology cooperation projects with SCO countries over the next three years.

On the same day, Xi also attended the "SCO Plus" meeting, delivering a speech titled "Jointly Advocating Equal and Orderly World Multipolarity for a More Just and Equitable Global Governance." He noted that over 25 years of development, the SCO has successfully set an example for relations between major powers, between neighbours, and between large and small states, and has successfully pooled the development strength of nearly half the world's population and a quarter of its economic output. Xi stressed that as a responsible major power, China will continue to actively champion equal and orderly world multipolarity and uphold true multilateralism.

During the summit, SCO leaders signed and issued the Bishkek Declaration marking the organisation's 25th anniversary, approved a protocol amending and supplementing the SCO Charter, and adopted documents including regulations for the SCO's Universal Center for Countering Security Challenges and Threats and for its Anti-Drug Center. In all, member states signed or adopted around 28 outcome documents covering security, economic, people-to-people and organisational cooperation. The meeting decided that Pakistan will take over the SCO's rotating chairmanship from this year through 2027, under the theme "Turning Vision into Action: Connectivity, Innovation and Shared Prosperity." Pakistan's city of Lahore was also designated the SCO's Tourism and Cultural Capital for 2026-2027.

It is worth noting that despite progress on institutional reforms, the long-discussed proposal for an SCO Development Bank was not finalised at the summit, with member states still divided over issues such as the bank's headquarters location — Kyrgyzstan has proposed Bishkek as the site, while Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has offered to host it in Kazakhstan instead. Analysts say this unresolved issue is likely to be a key task for Pakistan to coordinate during its term as rotating chair. Separately, UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended summit-related events by invitation, sharing views on global security, climate action and reform of international institutions, reflecting the SCO's growing influence within the global governance system.

The summit was hosted by Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, with more than a dozen heads of state and government attending, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended as a dialogue partner. Leaders exchanged views on regional security, the situation in Afghanistan, and cooperation on food and energy during the gathering.

On the sidelines of the summit, Xi held a bilateral meeting with Putin, during which the two sides exchanged in-depth views on China-Russia relations and international and regional issues. Xi said that under their joint stewardship, China-Russia relations would become "ever stronger, ever steadier and ever brighter," while Putin said Russia was ready to make its visa-free arrangement with China permanent and noted that Russia-India relations were also strengthening. Putin separately held a bilateral meeting with Modi.

Coming amid profound shifts in the international landscape and rising geopolitical uncertainty, the Bishkek summit is widely regarded as one of the most significant milestones since the SCO's founding. Analysts say the summit sent a strong signal of deepening cooperation among Eurasian countries in addressing global challenges, while further underscoring the SCO's role in advancing world multipolarity. According to the itinerary, after attending the summit and paying a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, Xi was scheduled to pay a state visit to Egypt, with the full trip running through September 3.