Amity, Security, Prosperity — Xi Opens New Prospects for Asia

BEIJING — President Xi Jinping has just concluded a fruitful tour to Central Asia after paying state visits to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and attending the summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

The five-day tour has infused fresh vigor to promoting security and development across Asia and once again demonstrated China's commitment to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

BOOST COMMON SECURITY, DEVELOPMENT

Addressing the fifth CICA summit in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, Xi called on CICA members to build an Asia featuring mutual respect and trust, security and stability, development and prosperity, openness and inclusiveness, as well as cooperation and innovation.

Calling Asia one of the most dynamic and most promising regions in the world, Xi said that Asian countries also face common challenges including insufficient political mutual trust, imbalanced economic development, and outstanding security and governance issues, and thus there is a long way to go to realize long-lasting peace and shared prosperity.

Hailing the progress made by Asian countries in building an Asian community with a shared future in the past few years, Xi encouraged CICA members to hold on to their goals, jointly seize opportunities and address challenges, and make concerted efforts in opening up new prospects for Asian security and development under the new circumstances.

Xi's idea, said State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, represented a broad consensus on the future development trend of Asia, enriched the connotation and denotation of the 27-year-old CICA, and provided both philosophical and directional guidance for regional cooperation.

In the eyes of Khalid Abdul Azizi al-Binali, chief of the Research and Studies Department of Qatar News Agency, Xi's vision will promote international mutual trust and cooperation, reduce conflicts and maintain regional peace.

According to a declaration issued after the summit, CICA member states agreed to make further joint efforts to promote comprehensive and sustainable security and development in Asia.

In an increasingly interconnected and interdependent globalized world, Asian countries share common interests in building a sustainable environment conducive to peace and security, said the declaration.

CARRY FORWARD SHANGHAI SPIRIT

At the 19th SCO summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, Xi called for concerted efforts to build the organization into a model mechanism of regional cooperation against the backdrop of the complicated international situation.

Addressing leaders from across Eurasia and representatives of international organizations at the summit, Xi highlighted the Shanghai Spirit in building the SCO as a paradigm of unity and mutual trust among countries.

He urged SCO members to have a keen appreciation of the trend toward world multi-polarization and economic globalization, search for wisdom in the Shanghai Spirit, which features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity, and pursuit of common development, and draw strength from unity and cooperation so as to build a closer community with a shared future for the organization.

Xi's vision drew positive responses from other participating leaders, Wang said, adding that they also agreed to carry forward the Shanghai Spirit, promote cooperation in such fields as security, economy and people-to-people exchanges, safeguard the principles of international relations, support the construction of an open world economy, and jointly push for greater development of the SCO at this new starting point.

The Shanghai Spirit, said Rakhmatulla Nazarov, head of the Public Diplomacy Center in Uzbekistan, ensures the strong vitality and broad prospects of the SCO, which is an effective mechanism for enhancing international cooperation.

In a joint declaration, the SCO members emphasized their intention to extend and deepen cooperation in addressing threats to stability and security in the SCO region.

They also stressed the importance of improving the architecture of global economic governance, and deepening cooperation to build a transparent, predictable and stable environment for the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation.

CONSOLIDATE GOOD-NEIGHBORLINESS

The state visits to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Wang said, demonstrated the close friendship between the heads of state and the high level of China's ties with the two neighboring countries.

In their talks, Xi and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, agreed to lift their countries' comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights.

Noting that jointly building the Belt and Road has become the focus of China-Kyrgyzstan cooperation, Xi called on the two countries to deepen the alignment of their development strategies, tap new potential of their partnership and explore new space of cooperation.

Jeenbekov awarded Xi the Manas Order of the First Degree, the highest national prize of Kyrgyzstan, saying that he appreciates Xi's special contributions to the development of bilateral ties.

In Tajikistan, Xi and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, reached a consensus on further deepening the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership for common development and prosperity.

They agreed to commit their countries to developing an all-weather friendship, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Xi received the Order of the Crown, Tajikistan's highest decoration, from the Tajik president, who spoke highly of Xi's positive contributions to the development of Tajikistan-China relations.

President Xi pointed out that both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are China's good neighbors, good partners and good friends, and their relations with China, now in their best periods yet in history, enjoy broad prospects.

As the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, China and Central Asian countries are confronting common development and security challenges, and need to build closer cooperative relations to better safeguard their respective and common interests, Wang added.