SCO meeting set to focus on priority tasks amid virus

Joining forces to deal with risks and challenges, to promote security and stability and to revitalize economies will be the focus of President Xi Jinping’s discussions with fellow leaders at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng revealed this at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday when briefing reporters about Xi’s upcoming attendance at the annual gathering via video link next Tuesday.

The president will make a number of proposals to promote “the Shanghai Spirit”, SCO unity and mutual trust, cooperation in various fields and linking the Belt and Road Initiative with countries’ growth strategies and regional cooperation initiatives, Le said.

Xi’s proposals will also include supporting multilateralism and jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind, he added.

The meeting will be the first multilateral summit Xi will attend following last week’s Fifth Plenary Session of the 19 th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Le said Xi’s attendance also constitutes “a major multilateral diplomatic action by China this year” to better engage with the Eurasian region, and this “bears great significance”.

During the meeting, all parties involved will exchange views mainly on the priority tasks that will further bolster SCO cooperation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as major international and regional issues.

Vice-Minister of Commerce Yu Jianhua said recently that the pandemic is spreading all over the world, and the practicing of unilateralism and protectionism by a few countries has posed challenges to the global economy, including members of the SCO.

SCO member states have worked together this year to overcome difficulties and help each other, supporting businesses in their resumption of operations and production, and they have guaranteed the overall stability of their industrial and supply chains, Yu told a forum on the theme of the SCO on Oct 29.

Le said the holding of the summit via a video link shows “the great importance attached to the SCO’s development as well as the strong determination to join hands to deal with risks and challenges, and jointly safeguard national security and growth”.

Deng Hao, secretary-general of the China Center of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies, noted that the SCO “is a major force championing regional and global stability, and it works hard to steer global governance in the right direction and make the international order fairer and more reasonable”.

“Only by doing so could countries effectively offset the pressure i mposed by hegemony, safeguard the global and regional circumstances for peace and development, and ensure the healthy and orderly advance of global governance,” Deng said.

Leaders of SCO member states will issue a joint declaration and approve documents covering a number of areas for cooperation, according to Le.

In preparation for the summit, the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in September approved drafts of three statements likely to be issued at the upcoming event.

The three statements cover the 75th anniversary of the World War II victory, responses to the spread of terrorist, separatist and extremist ideas on the Internet, and cooperation in international information security.