SCO at 25: How China-Kyrgyzstan ties are redefining multipolar order

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As the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) marks its 25th anniversary with this month's summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, it has matured into a comprehensive platform from a regional security arrangement, shaping the architecture of a multipolar world order.

China has an instrumental role in steering this transformation, giving the SCO a broader vision of global governance reform that prioritizes sovereign equality, developmental pragmatism, and institutional resilience over ideological convergence. Nowhere is this vision more vividly operationalized than in China's relationship with Kyrgyzstan, the summit host and a critical node in Beijing's Eurasian connectivity initiatives.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping noted in his signed article published in Kyrgyz media, the China-Kyrgyzstan relationship has achieved leapfrog development in recent years, with political mutual trust, Belt and Road cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges reaching unprecedented levels.

In 2025 alone, bilateral trade in goods surged 20% year on year to $27.2 billion. The two sides are promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation within the framework of SCO and China-Central Asia cooperation.

The centerpiece of this deepening partnership is the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, also mentioned in Xi's article. Spanning more than 304 kilometers through Kyrgyzstan, the railway is positioned to transform Central Asia into a transit hub linking Chinese manufacturing with Middle Eastern and European markets.

Its construction, accelerated in 2026, exemplifies the SCO's dual mandate: enhancing regional connectivity while fostering economic resilience as a foundation for long-term security.

Beyond infrastructure, China and Kyrgyzstan have pledged to deepen cooperation in clean energy, green minerals, and artificial intelligence – sectors that align with both nations' development priorities and the SCO's emerging focus on digital and green transitions.

"While strengthening existing cooperation in trade and investment, connectivity, and green mining, we should also cooperate in the digital economy, clean energy, artificial intelligence, and other emerging fields," Xi wrote in the article, adding, "We need to move forward with building the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, accelerate the revamping of land ports, and advance institutional connectivity alongside physical connectivity to facilitate the smooth flow of people and goods."

Kyrgyzstan's chairmanship of this year's SCO Summit has further amplified this synergy and joint pursuit of shared interests. "Since taking over the SCO presidency, Kyrgyzstan has carried out a great deal of productive work," Xi wrote, commending Kyrgyzstan's efforts in building consensus among member states and advancing practical cooperation.

Xi also urged acting on the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity and the four global initiatives proposed by China – the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative.

In addition, he called for unequivocally opposing hegemonism, unilateralism, and bloc confrontation, jointly combating terrorism, separatism, and extremism, and bringing into play a more just and equitable global governance system.

Unlike Western-led alliances that often demand normative alignment, the SCO has thrived precisely because it does not require its members to reconcile their political models or strategic rivalries. It, according to Xi's article, has pioneered a new model of regional cooperation that features partnership instead of alliance, safeguards shared security and stability, and promotes common development and prosperity.

This is why the SCO, against the backdrop of protectionist headwinds, has become a comprehensive regional organization with the widest geographical coverage, the largest population, and enormous potential.

The SCO's future will be defined not by how many members it adds, but by how effectively it translates its principles into practice. And the high-quality development of China-Kyrgyzstan relations itself is evidence of the two countries' endeavor for a truly multipolar system, one where coexistence, not convergence, becomes the foundation of global order.

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