How Xi Jinping champions 'Shanghai Spirit,' drives SCO cooperation

From political trust and common security to economic connectivity and people-to-people exchanges, Chinese President Xi Jinping has consistently championed the "Shanghai Spirit" as a guiding principle for cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), turning shared aspirations into concrete actions and tangible outcomes.

On June 15, 2001, the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan gathered in Shanghai to announce the founding of SCO, a new regional organization in the Eurasian region and also the only international organization named after a Chinese city.

As the SCO prepares to convene its 26th summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the organization's journey over the past 25 years offers a vivid illustration of how the Shanghai Spirit – featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development – has continued to gain vitality in a changing world.

In his signed article on Kyrgyz media on Friday, Xi said he looks forward to working with his Kyrgyz counterpart to make new progress in building an SCO community with a shared future.

"China is convinced that with the concerted efforts of all sides, this year's SCO summit will be a crowning success and provide fresh impetus for carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit and building an SCO community with a shared future," Xi said.

Since 2013, Xi has attended every SCO summit in person or via video link and put forward a series of major initiatives and promoted practical cooperation across a wide range of fields, helping transform the Shanghai Spirit from a set of shared principles into a driving force for regional peace, development and common prosperity.

Strengthening mutual trust During his first SCO summit in Bishkek in 2013, Xi called on members to uphold the Shanghai Spirit and strengthen mutual trust and cooperation.

Five years later, at the 2018 SCO Qingdao summit, which Xi chaired for the first time, he described the Shanghai Spirit as the "shared asset" of SCO members and the SCO as "our shared home," saying the Shanghai Spirit had transcended outdated notions such as the clash of civilizations, Cold War mentality and zero-sum thinking.

At the 2022 Samarkand summit, Xi stressed that the Shanghai Spirit is the source of the SCO's vitality and called on SCO members to act in the spirit and "jointly build our region into a peaceful, stable, prosperous and beautiful home." Guided by this philosophy, the SCO has developed a new model of regional cooperation that brings together countries with different social systems, development paths and cultural traditions.