As the SCO summit came to a close, a reporter for our Mandarin sister channel sat down with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who talked about the big event and the organization's future.

KANG HUI CCTV "The Qingdao summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has come to a successful conclusion. China also hosted the Beijing summit in 2012. This year's summit is the first since the SCO admitted new member states last year. It's been called a new milestone in the SCO's history of development. How do you view that assessment? And how would you assess the implications and features of the Qingdao summit?"

WANG YI CHINESE STATE COUNCILOR AND FOREIGN MINISTER Yes, indeed we can say that with the joint efforts of China and other member states, the achievements of the Qingdao summit have exceeded expectations. It is a new milestone in the SCO's development process and it has significant implications for inheriting the past and exploring the future. We think the following three aspects are the most important:

First, the Shanghai Spirit was highlighted. The Shanghai Spirit is summed up by mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respecting multiple civilizations, and seeking common development. President Xi stressed at the summit that the SCO has maintained its vitality because of the persistent practice of the Shanghai Spirit. The Qingdao Declaration also reiterates that it is because of the Shanghai Spirit that the SCO has withstood the tests of ever changing international trends and become an extremely important stabilizing force in the current international situation which is full of uncertainty. The Shanghai Spirit is also highly consistent with China's traditional ideas of "peace and harmony" in that it transcends the out-dated idea of a clash of civilizations, the Cold War mentality, and zero-sum games. The spirit has become the core value of the SCO and it will continue to provide strong guarantees for the development and strengthening of the SCO. At the same time, the Shanghai Spirit reveals the basic norms that should be adopted in state-to-state interactions. It is absolutely consistent with the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter and will surely have positive and far-reaching implications for all countries to build a new type of international relations.

Second, the awareness of a community with a shared future was shaped. To construct a community with a shared future for humanity is a significant initiative put forward by President Xi, grasping the direction of mankind's progress, and viewing the common interests of all countries. SCO member states are neighbours to each other with similar development tasks and a closely-connected destiny. They are naturally committed to playing the role of vanguard in constructing a community with a shared future for humanity. In the Qingdao Declaration, all sides have established the common idea of a community with a shared future for humanity and expressed the strong voice of the times of a "common breath, and shared future", which will help strengthen mutual benefit and cooperation among SCO member states, exerting a never-fading dynamism on the SCO's development, and promoting the common development and prosperity of the region and the world.

The third important aspect is the idea of global governance. President Xi Jinping pointed out that we should adhere to a concept of global governance of dialogue, construction and sharing, and encourage all countries to work together to build a community with a shared human destiny. The Qingdao declaration also stresses that the SCO will promote a more just and balanced international order on the basis of equality, sharing, comprehensiveness, cooperation and sustainable security. This is the political consensus reached by Member States on the basis of common needs, which will contribute to the improvement of global governance.

KANG HUI CCTV You mentioned the SCO leaders witnessed the signing of a record 23 cooperation documents at the summit. They include politics, security, the economy and the humanities. Could you please talk more about the outcomes of this summit, and what is your comment on these outcomes?

WANG YI CHINESE STATE COUNCILOR AND FOREIGN MINISTER To recap briefly, there were five significant outcomes.

The first is new plans for the development of the organization. The SCO family is getting bigger, with more members. But solidarity and mutual trust are an excellent tradition of the SCO. The "Qingdao Declaration" reiterated that all parties should further develop their friendship and work together to build permanent peaceful and friendly common borders. The summit approved guidelines for the implementation of the "Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation between SCO Member States", including a series of major cooperative measures providing a roadmap for development of the SCO over the next five years.

The second is new measures for security cooperation. The summit approved a series of documents to act as guidelines for cooperation on combating terrorism, separatism and extremism over the next three years. These documents focus on the main threats to regional security, something that all sides share a common requirement. These guidelines are precise and practical.

The third outcome is fresh impetus for economic cooperation. The Qingdao summit approved many documents on economic cooperation, covering trade convenience, food safety and customs coordination. Among them was a joint declaration on trade convenience, which called for the maintaining of the multilateral trading system based on WTO rules and called for an open world economy, expressing with a common voice support for multilateralism and anti-protectionism. We are glad to see the Belt and Road Initiative getting more and more support, and new development being achieved by connecting national development strategies with regional cooperation initiatives.

The fourth is new achievements for cooperation in the humanities. The SCO attaches great importance to protecting the environment. Leaders of member states approved a proposal for cooperation on environmental protection and set a strategic goal to maintain an ecological equilibrium and achieve green and sustainable development.

There was also another important aspect, which is a new phase for foreign diplomacy. The SCO has always insisted on openness, equality, inclusiveness and transparency, and our "circle of friends" has been expanded. This summit included not only our long-term partners from the United Nations, but also delegates from the Eurasian Economic Union, the IMF and the World Bank took part for the first time. The SCO also signed documents with UNESCO. These show that the international community recognizes the ideas of the SCO and is paying attention to its rising influence.