Experts weigh in on Xi's SCO address

President Xi Jinping's recent speech at the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization represented a call for the world to shun a Cold War mentality and zero-sum thinking and uphold the Shanghai Spirit to forge common answers to the needs of our times, several analysts said.

Xi underscored true multilateralism and shunning reductive politics and outlooks, said Dennis Munene, Executive Director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute.

The global community, he said, needs to acknowledge China's support for public goods such as the Global Security Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, both of which featured extensively in Xi's remarks at the summit and serve to deepen cooperation and enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Colin Mackerras, professor emeritus at Griffith University in Australia, said what struck him about Xi's speech was the positive tone, the focus on equality, common values, exchange and multicultural appreciation for many civilizations.

"We're getting an emphasis on unity from President Xi Jinping as opposed to the divisiveness that seems so prevalent with much of the rest of the world today, especially the United States. I regard this emphasis on unity and equality as an extremely good thing," he said.

Mackerras added Xi called for stability, cultural exchange, equality among nations and the practice of the common values of humanity. "He was very clear in his desire to safeguard 'the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law'," the professor said, adding Xi "maintained the long-held international desire to oppose terrorism, separatism and extremism."

Xi's speech gave direction not only for SCO member states, but also global peaceful coexistence, said Gerald Mbanda, a researcher and publisher on China-Africa cooperation in Rwanda. This was done, he said, by emphasizing five points within the Shanghai Spirit, namely mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development.

"President Xi's call for security cooperation among member countries is indeed necessary given the current atmosphere of a Cold War mentality promoted by the US and its allies. China's call for a Global Security Initiative is intended to address the peace deficit and global security challenges that prevail," he said.

Mbanda added Xi's call for multilateralism as opposed to unilateralism clearly advocates for a global order based on consultation and consensus through which global challenges and ideological differences can be addressed, rather than force and bullying by strong nations.

Kaori Singh, emeritus fellow and former director of the South Asia Studies Center at India's University of Rajasthan, noted Xi's speech dispelled the apprehensions spread by a Western media disinformation campaign by underlining the significance of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Salman Bashir, a former Pakistani ambassador to China, said Xi's SCO speech was about keeping a rational view on development and security issues, despite dissonance. "His focus on forging political trust, openness, equality, and deepening cooperation and respecting core interests were of special value in a fraught situation," he said.

Furkan Halit Yolcu, a research assistant at Sakarya University Middle East Institute in Turkey, said the 22nd SCO Summit had three points of focus, and Xi brought them all into perspective. "At the beginning of his speech, he was mainly focusing on the challenging conditions international relations are currently going through," he said.

The second and third points were about the Shanghai Spirit and reaffirming it, he added.

He said Xi emphasized the SCO was designed to be a constructive force that enables individual members to build solutions, remedies for problems and solidarity. "So he tried to highlight SCO as platform of discussion, of solutions," Yolcu said.

Nasser Bouchiba, president of the Africa-China Cooperation Association for Development in Morocco, said, "President Xi's speech invited participating countries to defend world peace through mutual trust and respect, consultation and solidarity."

According to him, Xi proposed specific measures aimed at protecting regional peace, promoting mutual cooperation in trade and investment, infrastructure construction, supply chains, technological innovation and other areas to "deal with the global epidemic and trends that threaten world peace, including unilateralism and protectionism, and declining economic globalization among other problems".

Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan, said Xi's emphasis on "win-win cooperation based on a consultative and cooperative approach" again underlined China's policy of peaceful coexistence and joint pursuit of common development.

Jan Yumul in Hong Kong and Chen Yingqun in Beijing contributed to the report.