TIANJIN; Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) now carries a “greater responsibility” in ensuring regional peace, stability, and prosperity for its member states. He made the remarks on Sunday evening while hosting around 20 world leaders at a welcome banquet in Tianjin, where the organisation’s annual summit is being held.
Leaders from Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East are attending the gathering, which Beijing is presenting as a demonstration of Global South solidarity.
According to Chinese state media, Xi stressed that the summit holds a critical mission: to strengthen consensus among member states and inject fresh momentum into multilateral cooperation. He expressed confidence that with joint efforts, the meeting would be a complete success, enhancing the SCO’s role in fostering unity and delivering greater achievements for its members.
The Tianjin summit is the largest in the organisation’s history, and member states are expected to approve key documents, including a long-term strategy to guide the SCO’s development over the next decade.
Highlighting the choice of venue, Xi described Tianjin as a hub of China’s reform and opening-up policies and said that hosting the summit there would bring renewed vitality to the SCO’s drive for sustainable development.
Xi further noted that the SCO has evolved into “an important force for building a new type of international relations and advancing the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity.”