Qingdao summit to usher in more dynamic SCO

A COMMUNITY WITH SHARED FUTURE

The SCO summit comes after the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference in south China's Hainan province in April. In a keynote speech at the conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a slew of new opening-up measures. The year 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up, which have brought immense economic growth to the country.

Two other major global events China will host later this year are the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing in September and the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November.

The events will showcase the "major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics" and China's opening-up drive. China has advocated for "a community with a shared future for humanity" and a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation, and its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a "project of the century," has won wide support worldwide.

The initiative, or the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, proposed by China in 2013, has become a key platform for creating a community with a shared future for humanity.

"The SCO and BRI offer mutual support and opportunities to each other, and the BRI concept has already been embedded into the SCO and is making positive progress," said Li Jianmin, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

"Firmly committed to the Shanghai Spirit, SCO member states are making solid progress on the road of building a community of shared future, thus establishing a fine example of the new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation," said Xi in his speech delivered at the 17th SCO summit last year.

According to SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov, a community with a shared future for humanity represents a global perspective embedded in China's upholding of justice while pursuing shared interests, and shows China's pursuit of peaceful development.

QINGDAO NEW START OF SCO

"Qingdao is modern, international and has rich historical sites," said Junusbekova Meruyert, a student from Kazakhstan in her fourth year at China University of Petroleum in Qingdao.

Meruyert said she would return to her own country after graduation and open an education center to help those who plan to study in China.

"Besides trade and economic cooperation, I expect more cultural and education exchanges between China and Kazakhstan," she said.

Qingdao will also witness the SCO embark on a new journey featuring more effective and extensive cooperation while its member states remain true to the "Shanghai Spirit."

A major port and production base for both high-speed trains and home appliances, the dynamic city is eyeing closer cooperation with SCO countries as China opens wider to the world.

In April, China's Ministry of Commerce decided to support Qingdao in building the country's first demonstration area for China-SCO regional trade and economic cooperation.

The demonstration area is located in the Eurasian Economic and Trade Industrial Park, initiated by Qingdao and the Business Council of the SCO in 2015. The industrial park has attracted 21 projects with a total investment of 18 billion yuan (2.8 billion U.S. dollars).

Last year, the trade volume between Qingdao and SCO member states hit 4.6 billion dollars, up 9.8 percent year on year. The city's imports from SCO member states jumped 41 percent to reach 1.46 billion dollars.

Haier Group, the world's leading home appliance manufacturer based in Qingdao, has factories in SCO countries such as Russia, India and Pakistan.

In 2017, trade between China and other SCO member countries totaled 217.6 billion dollars, up 19 percent year on year, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

Starting in Qingdao, the SCO will usher in a new phase of cooperation and development, become more influential and dynamic, and play a more active role in building a community with a shared future for humanity.

"The upcoming SCO summit in Qingdao will be a milestone of historical significance," Alimov told reporters at the SCO headquarters in Beijing on Sunday.

"Since taking over the rotating presidency of the SCO a year ago, China has made enormous efforts to push practical cooperation in various fields to achieve significant progress. The Qingdao summit is expected to be the one with most plentiful outcomes in the SCO history," said Sun Zhuangzhi, a researcher in SCO studies with the CASS.

(by Xinhua writers Li Laifang, Zhang Zhilong, Xinhua reporters Zhang Xudong, Su Wanming and Wei Shengyao contributed to the story)