Xi lights up shared dream as China hosts SCO summit

A gantry crane loads cargo onto a freight train bound for Central Asia at the Jiaozhou Bay International Logistics Harbor in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, May 7, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

FROM SHANGHAI TO QINGDAO

According to Wang, the Qingdao Declaration to be issued at the summit will call on all parties to continue the Shanghai Spirit.

In his speeches at previous SCO summits, President Xi had repeatedly upheld the Shanghai Spirit, acknowledging its significance in forging a community with a shared future in the region, maintaining security and stability and promoting exchanges.

"The 17-year-old Shanghai Spirit is in line with Xi's latest diplomatic vision," said Li Ziguo with the China Institute of International Studies, who also highlighted it as a platform for "building a community with a shared future for humanity."

Under the guidance of the Shanghai Spirit, the region prospered with peace and stability, with countries in the region having settled complicated border issues, contained threats from terrorism, extremism and separatism, and launched initiatives of cross-border trade and infrastructure connectivity, often spearheaded by China.

The SCO has grown to be an organization covering over 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half the world's population and over 20 percent of global GDP.

"The organization has demonstrated strong cohesion and increasing influence," said Konstantin Kokarev, head of the Centre for Asia and Pacific Region, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, in an interview with Xinhua.

Aerial photo taken on May 4, 2018 shows a container dock of Qingdao Port in East China's Shandong province. [Photo/Xinhua]

FROM QINGDAO TO BROADER WORLD

Qingdao is a symbolic choice to host this year's SCO summit, as it is at the eastern end of a vast railway network across Eurasia, and a logistics center linking the Silk Road Economic Belt with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Sea cargo is transferred here to five international railway lines to countries in the western end of the continent, 30 days quicker than using sea routes alone.

The vision of the Silk Road Economic Belt was first raised by Xi in Astana of Kazakhstan in September 2013, a few days before he first attended the SCO summit as Chinese president. It was later developed into the Belt and Road Initiative.

"China's initiative brings great opportunity to the SCO," said SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov. "The summit in Qingdao will also contribute to the implementation of the initiative."

The initiative has become an important practice to materialize the vision of a community of a shared future for humanity.

"China itself has engaged in profound cooperation with countries across the world. It will bring rich opportunities to connect the SCO with a broader part of the world," Kokarev said.