2018 SCO Summit: President Xi Jinping delivers speech

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Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at a large-scale meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Qingdao in China’s eastern Shandong Province.

The heads of state of SCO member states, leaders of observer delegations, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations, are attending.

Addressing the participants, Xi said the SCO has become an important force for promoting global peace and development and upholding international justice and fairness with its ever rising international influence.

“The SCO enjoys strong vitality and momentum of cooperation,” added Xi, attributing the organization’s standing to the Shanghai Spirit.

In his speech, Xi called the SCO member states to keep pace with the underlying trends to push for more progress in human civilization.

“While unilateralism, trade protectionism and the backlash against globalization are taking new forms, in this global village of ours where countries’ interests and future are so interconnected, the pursuit of cooperation for mutual benefit represents a surging trend,” said Xi.

“While we keep hearing such rhetoric as the clash of civilizations or the superiority of one civilization over another, it is the diversity of civilizations that sustains human progress. Indeed, mutual learning between different cultures is a shared aspiration of all peoples,” he added.

Xi has also highlighted the Shanghai Spirit, which he called a “shared asset” of the SCO.

“We should stay committed to the Shanghai Spirit, surmount difficulties, defuse risks and meet challenges head on,” said Xi.

At the end of his speech, Xi gave a five-point proposal for the organization:

- to build up strength of unity and mutual trust

- to strengthen the foundation for shared peace and security

- to build a powerful engine to achieve common development and prosperity

- to forge closer ties through cultural and people-to-people exchanges

- to expand partnership networks of international cooperation

Xi said China will set up a 30-billion-yuan equivalent special lending facility within the framework of the SCO Inter-bank Consortium to build a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) community with a shared future with a view toward an inclusive world that enjoys lasting peace, shared security and common prosperity.

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