Shanghai Spirit pursues common development: Russian expert

The Shanghai Spirit, main guidance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, denounces unilateralism and is comprised of ideas of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, a Russian expert said.

Guided by the Shanghai Spirit, the SCO stimulates member states' inclusive cooperation, which does not target third parties, said Oleg Timofeev, associate professor at the RUDN University in Russia.

Echoing what President Xi Jinping said at the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the SCO on Friday that Afghanistan still faces many daunting challenges after the withdrawal of foreign troops, Timofeev told China Daily recent stances of China, Russia and other SCO member-states may be a sign of things to come as regional powers become bolder in their rejection of some third parties' interventions in Central Asia and their irresponsible attempts to impose alien values from the outside and to build democracy in their own pattern without taking into account any historical, cultural or religious peculiarities.

"The SCO is not a security organization per se but in the most recent weeks it faces predominantly security challenges created by the US's chaotic fleeing from Afghanistan. They left behind lots of modern sophisticated weapons, which could be easily transferred into the wrong hands," the expert said.

Timofeev agreed with Xi about his calling for jointly ensuring security and stability in his speech, saying the SCO, along with the Belt and Road Initiative, would be the most effective platform for security cooperation between regional powers.

The professor said it is remarkable that the SCO summit was held just a day after the launch of the AUKUS military bloc, which embraces the US, the UK and Australia.

"Many western experts stress that the abbreviation sounds strange but for Russian speakers it is reminiscent of the word ukus (meaning bite in Russian). And this 'bite' has turned out to be very painful not only for Indo-Pacific regional powers but even for Washington's allies, since France, for instance, recalled its ambassadors from the US and Australia just days afterwards for violations of previous deals," Timofeev said.

On the contrary, the SCO is steadily transforming and rapidly growing, as the Dushanbe summit started a procedure of Iran's long-awaited full membership in the organization and Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are traditionally seen as US key allies in the Middle East, gained the status of the SCO dialogue partners, he said. He recalled what Xi said about the growing SCO family that "will stride ahead together with all the progressive forces of the world, and be the builders of world peace, contributors to global development and defenders of the international order".

Timofeev said Xi's statements on the post-Covid world made in his video address at the SCO summit, as well as his earlier speech to the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, also attracted world-wide attention.

"I for one find his proposal to build a comprehensive global community of health a matter of special value. Mutual recognition of the COVID vaccines is in accordance with our peoples' hopes and could help to reopen borders of our countries," Timofeev said.