Chinese President Xi Jinping poses for a group photo with leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Xi puts forward four-point proposal at SCO Bishkek Summit

(Global Times/BRNN) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China sees the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a priority area for high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road and implementation of the Global Development Initiative, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Xi made the remarks in his speech addressing the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.
Xi said China is ready to help build the SCO into an important platform for implementing the Global Security Initiative. China is also willing to work with all parties to implement the Global Civilisation Initiative, and supports the SCO in pursuing exemplary cooperation to implement the Global Governance Initiative, Xi added.
Xi put forward a four-point proposal. He called on the SCO to stay committed to putting development first, and open up the prospects for shared prosperity.
He urged the SCO to stay committed to taking security as a key goal, and foster an environment of common security.
The Chinese leader also called on the grouping to put people first, and cement the foundation for everlasting friendship.
He urged the SCO to promote dialogue and consultation, and strive for more equitable and orderly governance.
The SCO summit wrapped up in Bishkek. Leaders of the member states signed and issued the Bishkek Declaration, approved the protocol on amendments and additions to the SCO Charter, the regulations on the SCO Universal Centre for Countering Security Challenges and Threats and the regulations on the SCO Anti-drug Center, and adopted 28 outcome documents covering such areas as security, economic and people-to-people cooperation, and organisational development, according to Xinhua.
China will also establish an international cooperation center on AI applications for SCO countries, set up a China-SCO port economy cooperation centre in Tianjin, and jointly implement 100 technological cooperation projects with SCO countries over the next three years, per Xinhua.
The summit in Bishkek comes a year after the successful SCO summit 2025 in North China’s Tianjin Municipality, where member states adopted the SCO Development Strategy for 2026-2035, charting the course for the organisation’s future development. Among the outstanding outcomes at last year’s SCO summit in Tianjin is China-proposed Global Governance Initiative and observers have noted that turning blueprint into actionable, down-to-earth results has been a key feature of this year’s summit.
“I read it as a shift from declaration to delivery. The four global initiatives are being anchored inside SCO mechanism, and this time with a concrete list attached,” Kubat Rakhimov, executive director of Applicata - Centre for Strategic Solutions in Bishkek, told the Global Times. For Rakhimov, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor deserves attention. For a landlocked country like mine, the bottleneck in Eurasian transit is no longer track - it is border-crossing capacity, customs procedure and paperwork, Rakhimov said.
Li Yongquan, an expert with Development Research Centre of the State Council, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the essence of the SCO’s development in the past 25 years is that it has found the right way of coexistence featuring non-alliances, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party, while bringing countries in the region together to build a common home.
Li Xin, director of Institute for Eurasian Studies with Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said that the Shanghai Spirit, featuring a philosophy grounded in mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development, has demonstrated enduring vitality with the successful SCO summit held in Bishkek.
As China proposed implementing the major global initiatives within the SCO platform, related efforts in building a demonstration pilot zone featuring these initiatives would be a focal point to be observed in the next few years, Li Xin said, noting that a successful model at SCO would offer a paradigm of global governance reform for the world.
Trade between China and other SCO members grew from US$12.1 billion in 2001 to US$523.5 billion in 2025, accounting for 8 percent of China’s total foreign trade.
What began as a forum for settling borders among founding members has become the largest regional organization in the world by landmass, population, and GDP. This unique institution is transforming itself into a center of crystallisation for global governance, Djoomart Otorbaev, former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, told the Global Times.
The SCO can set an example of how countries with different ideologies and different systems can establish peaceful procedures to reach common conclusions. Ahead lie many complicated stages, but the organisation will try to become a model of best practice, Otorbaev said.

(Latest Update September 3, 2026)