Xi Jinping's remarks at Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on 25th anniversary of SCO founding

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers an important speech during the 'Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Plus' meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, September 1, 2026.

Promoting Higher-Quality Development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Statement at the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, speech by President Xi Jinping.

It is a great pleasure to meet with you here in Bishkek. I wish to thank President Japarov for the thoughtful arrangements made for this meeting. Since assuming the SCO rotating presidency, Kyrgyzstan has focused on the theme of “Together Toward Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity,” organised a rich variety of activities, and carried out highly effective work. China speaks highly of these efforts.

August 31 and September 1 mark respectively the 35th anniversaries of the independence of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. On this occasion, I wish to extend sincere congratulations to President Japarov and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and to the friendly peoples of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Twenty-five years ago, in the face of the profound lessons of the Cold War, the real threats posed by the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism, and the strong aspirations of the people of all countries for peace and development, regional countries reached a broad consensus on working together to safeguard sovereignty, security and development interests. It was against this backdrop that the SCO came into being, and it has since demonstrated ever stronger vitality and dynamism.

Over the past 25 years, the SCO has travelled an extraordinary journey. Its most significant achievement has been its step-by-step growth into a new type of regional organisation with the largest geographical coverage, the biggest population and enormous development potential in the world. Its most valuable spiritual legacy is the pioneering “Shanghai Spirit” of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilisations and pursuit of common development, which the SCO has consistently upheld. Its most important experience in cooperation is that it has found the right way for countries to coexist – namely, non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party – and has helped regional countries work together to build a common home.

Twenty-five years on, changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world. Dialogue and confrontation, win-win cooperation and zero-sum rivalry, and multilateralism and unilateralism are engaged in intense contest, while the shadow of war has not disappeared.