Published on: 2026-09-04
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The 25th anniversary of the SCO was celebrated at the very place where its current tradition of openness was born – in Bishkek. The symbolism of the location is hard to overestimate: it was here in 2013 that the outlines of many projects, which have now become reality, were laid down. One of the clearest examples is the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which had remained on paper for decades and has finally moved from the negotiation stage to the construction stage. This path from declaration to infrastructure can be called a metaphor for the entire organization: the SCO is visibly transforming from a platform for dialogue into a mechanism producing tangible results.
The agenda of the anniversary summit was structured progressively – from security to economy, from economy to digital transformation, and from that to global governance. This logic reflects the evolution of the organization itself: from a tool for resolving border issues to the architect of a new regional order. Xi Jinping’s state visits to Kyrgyzstan and Egypt highlighted another trend – Beijing is consistently expanding the “SCO+” format, extending the organization’s agenda beyond Central Asia toward the Middle East and Africa.
On September 1, the 26th meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States was held in Bishkek under the chairmanship of the President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov. As a result, the Bishkek Declaration was signed, amendments to the SCO Charter were approved, provisions on the Center for Countering Security Threats and the Anti-Narcotics Center – a total of 28 final documents. The chairmanship for 2026–2027 was transferred to Pakistan.
The central event of the summit was Xi Jinping’s speech titled “Promoting Higher Quality Development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.” The Chairman of the PRC recalled that the organization was born 25 years ago against the backdrop of “deep lessons from the Cold War,” the threat of three forces – terrorism, separatism, and extremism – and the peoples of the region’s desire for peace. According to him, the SCO has become “a new type of regional cooperation organization with the largest territorial coverage and population, possessing enormous development potential,” and its spiritual core remains the “Shanghai Spirit.” He specifically emphasized the principle that distinguishes the SCO from bloc structures: the organization was built from the start on the rejection of “non-alignment with blocs, non-confrontation, and no targeting of third parties” – this formula has allowed the countries of the region to build a common home instead of a system of confrontation.
Expanding on the topic, Xi Jinping outlined four proposals for the organization’s further progress. The first concerns development priorities: he called for an “inclusive and universal” economic globalization, strengthening trade, investment, interconnectivity, and energy, as well as exploring new areas—artificial intelligence, the digital economy, and green industry. According to him, China views the SCO as a priority region for implementing the “Belt and Road” initiative and the Global Development Initiative. Practically, Beijing will continue to hold the Digital Economy Forum and the SCO Agricultural Exhibition, establish an International Cooperation Center for AI application for the organization’s countries, open the China-SCO Port Economic Cooperation Center in Tianjin, and implement 100 joint scientific and technological projects over three years.
The second proposal is security as a key priority: comprehensive counteraction against terrorism, cross-border crime, drug trafficking, and phone fraud; strengthening cooperation in the information, biological, and space sectors; preventing external forces from interfering in the region’s internal affairs. China supports the expedited launch of the SCO’s “four security centers” and intends to transform the organization into a platform for implementing the Global Security Initiative.
The third thesis is a focus on people: strengthening ties between parliaments, parties, universities, businesses, and media of the participating countries. Beijing will establish a China-SCO Center for Cooperation in Basic Education and continue its work through Confucius Institutes and Lu Ban workshops.
The fourth proposal concerns dialogue instead of dictate: equality of large and small states, resolving disagreements through negotiations, improving decision-making mechanisms within the organization. Xi Jinping expressed readiness to accept new partners who share its values and stated that Beijing intends to continue implementing the SCO’s decade-long development strategy, contributing to the formation of a community with a shared future for humanity.
The speech itself is notable not so much for the novelty of its formulations as for the level of concreteness. Beijing is moving further away from general declarations towards specific institutional proposals – concrete centers, forums, number of joint projects. It is also telling that the development agenda has been placed first, ahead of security – traditionally the main topic of the SCO in its early history; the organization, originally created to address border and anti-terrorism tasks, is transforming into an institution of Eurasian economic integration.
The rhetoric of non-alignment and refusal of orientation against third parties deserves special attention. In the conditions that summit participants called “a century of changes,” such a formula allows the SCO to remain attractive simultaneously to countries with very different foreign policy orientations, without requiring them to choose one side. In this same vein, the assertion of the China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan railway as a transition from plan to reality is symbolic: the project served for many years as an indicator of the region’s readiness for deeper integration, and its practical implementation secures the SCO’s reputation as an organization achieving tangible results.
Author: Anushervon Rasulov
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