Xi called on SCO members to work together to prevent attempts by external forces to provoke unrest
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders’ summit in Samarkand on September 16, 2022. © AFP / Sergei BOBYLYOV
Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) must work with each other to prevent outside forces from organizing color revolutions in their countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Friday.
Speaking at the SCO summit in Samarkand, President Xi said that member states should “support each other’s efforts to protect security and development interests,” noting that the world is undergoing “accelerating changes unseen in a century,” and has entered a phase of uncertainty and transformation.
He added that it is paramount to “guard against attempts by external forces to provoke a color revolution, and jointly oppose interference in other countries’ internal affairs under any pretext,” referring to Western-backed protests that have aimed to overthrow governments in post-Soviet countries.
Xi’s statement came as Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the growing influence of “new centers of power” that cooperate with each other and have the capacity to challenge the West’s global dominance.
The Chinese and Russian leaders had previously discussed foreign policy issues on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday. Putin noted that recent attempts to push for a unipolar world have taken “an absolutely ugly form” which is being rejected by most of the world.
He added that Russia and China stand together for a “just, democratic, multipolar world order based on international law and the central role of the UN, and not some rules that somebody invented and attempts to impose on others without even explaining what they are.”
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The SCO is an economic integration and trust-building alliance that was founded in 2001, and is currently the world’s largest regional bloc. It consists of eight nations – China, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
There are also four observer states – Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia – which are seeking to become full members of the bloc, as well as six ‘dialogue partners’ – Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
One of the key topics discussed at the summit on Friday was regional security challenges, as well as ways to boost trade and connectivity among member states amid the consequences of the global pandemic and the Ukraine crisis.
