Insights from the SCO’s Contribution to Enhancing Global Governance

Insights from the SCO’s Contribution to Enhancing Global Governance

Wang Cong Zhang Ye

On September 1, 2026, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Bishkek Summit opened, once again drawing the world’s attention to the SCO. At the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important address titled “Promoting Higher-Quality Development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” which elicited positive responses from all sides. Leaders of the participating countries commended China, as a founding member, for its significant contributions to advancing the organization’s development, fully recognized the achievements the SCO has attained over its 25 years of existence, and agreed to implement the consensus reached at the Tianjin Summit. They pledged to continue upholding the “Shanghai Spirit”—characterized by mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations, and the pursuit of common development—thus writing a new chapter in the history of lasting peace and shared prosperity. As a representative organization of the Global South, the SCO, guided by the “Shanghai Spirit,” transcends differences in history, culture, and social systems, skillfully manages conflicts and disagreements, steadily builds trust and mutual understanding, and effectively safeguards regional peace and stability. It has forged a path of regional cooperation that aligns with the trends of our times and meets the needs of all parties, rallying the development momentum of nearly half of the world’s population and one-quarter of global economic output, and setting a model for relations among major powers, neighboring states, and countries of varying sizes. Against the backdrop of accelerating profound changes unseen in a century, a thorough assessment of the SCO’s successes in cooperation and governance holds important lessons for reforming and improving global governance.

The establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was rooted in a profound historical context. Following the end of the Cold War, the geopolitical landscape of Central Asia underwent significant adjustments. Security threats—such as the “three forces” and transnational organized crime—became increasingly intertwined, while the need for regional countries to safeguard peace and stability grew ever more urgent. The SCO’s founding responded to the demands of the times for regional cooperation, beginning with joint efforts to combat the “three forces,” effectively integrating traditional and non‑traditional security concerns, and translating political mutual trust into concrete institutional outcomes and governance effectiveness. Over time, the SCO has adopted a series of security treaties, including the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism, and Extremism, and established regular mechanisms for dialogue among defense ministers, secretaries of security councils, and interior and public security ministers. Security cooperation has thus expanded from presidential-level coordination to encompass specialized agencies such as defense, public security, and internal affairs, achieving deep, vertical integration—from political consensus to institutional development, and from top‑down design to inter‑agency collaboration. Sharing the dividends of economic growth has served as another key driver of the SCO’s development. By 2025, the total value of member states’ merchandise trade reached US$8.88 trillion, roughly 9.3 times the level in 2001, whereas global merchandise trade grew by only 3.2 times over the same period. In 2025, China’s trade with other SCO members totaled approximately US$523.5 billion, more than 40 times the US$12.1 billion recorded in 2001, underscoring the steadily strengthening economic and trade ties within the region. People-to-people exchanges have emerged as one of the three pillars guiding the SCO’s progress. Member states continue to promote mutual learning and cooperation across education, health, culture, tourism, and other fields. Focusing on energy, information technology, and ecological sustainability, the SCO University brings together over 120 institutions from seven member states, offering joint undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs. Luban Workshops have been established in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and several other countries, providing in‑depth vocational skills training. Regularly convened meetings of culture ministers, artistic performances, film festivals, and other cultural events enrich exchanges and firmly consolidate the SCO’s social foundations for sustained and steady development. After 25 years of steady growth, the SCO has evolved from its original six founding members into an expansive “SCO family” spanning 27 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa, increasingly serving as a dynamic force for advancing world multipolarity and reforming and improving global governance.

At present, global deficits in peace, development, security, and trust continue to widen, making the world more in need than ever of fair, rational, and effective governance solutions. At the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus” meeting in Bishkek, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important address, emphasizing that “member states and partner countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization must grasp the overarching trends of history and shoulder their responsibilities in this era,” and that “grounded in a people-centered approach and guided by action, we should jointly champion a more equal and orderly multipolar world, advance the realization of fairer and more equitable global governance, and work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind.” As the SCO has evolved to its current stage, the principles it upholds, the achievements it has attained, and the many innovative governance concepts it has proposed and implemented have offered fresh ideas and pathways for reforming and improving global governance.

Bringing together diverse forces through equal treatment. For a long time, Western countries, leveraging their first-mover advantage, have promoted a binary framework of “civilization versus barbarism” and “advanced versus backward,” based on factors such as size, national strength, and stage of development, seeking to establish a highly hierarchical international order worldwide. In contrast, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, grounded in the recognition and respect of differences, upholds the principles of sovereign equality and mutual respect, striving for consensus through mutual understanding and by valuing the views of each member state, while implementing a set of institutional practices that operate steadily over the long term. Within official cooperation mechanisms such as the Council of Heads of State and the Council of Government Leaders (Prime Ministers), all member states enjoy equal status, with no country able to impose its will unilaterally. Similarly, in non‑governmental exchange platforms like the Business Council and the Interbank Consortium, relevant institutions from all member states may participate, and no country can exclude others from engagement. The system of rotating chairmanship ensures that, regardless of size, each member state takes turns assuming this crucial responsibility. This institutional resilience—seeking common ground while accommodating differences—demonstrates that sovereign equality and mutual respect are not obstacles to reforming and improving global governance; rather, they constitute essential norms for regulating relations among nations and are an indispensable requirement for advancing the democratization of international relations. Only by upholding sovereign equality and mutual respect, and by promoting equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal rules for all countries, can we strengthen the fairness and legitimacy of global governance and rally broad consensus and concerted efforts.

Shaping an orderly international landscape through rules and institutions. The principles of international relations enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations constitute the cornerstone of the contemporary international order. At the heart of the current challenges facing the international order lies not a lack of international norms or international law per se, but rather the tendency of certain states to substitute domestic law for international law, to undermine universal rules with the logic of “small circles,” and to replace equal consultation with threats of force. In the face of such maladies as the erosion of the rule of law in international affairs and the rampant bullying of the strong, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) upholds balance and orderliness, and the primacy of the rule of law, rejecting double standards, exceptionalism, interventionist coercion, and the law of the jungle, thereby advancing the rule of law in international relations. First, the SCO consistently respects and firmly supports the United Nations and its Charter, a position that is explicitly reflected in its foundational documents, annual declarations, and recent official statements. For instance, the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization expressly affirms adherence to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Second, the SCO’s development trajectory has been one of steadily strengthening the rule of law through international treaties. The Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation among the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization fundamentally establishes the basic framework for exchanges among member states. Moreover, a series of instruments, including the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism, and Extremism, provide a solid legal foundation for intelligence sharing and investigative cooperation, thereby elevating the level of rule-of-law‑based non‑traditional security cooperation within the SCO. The rule of law in international relations serves as the fundamental safeguard of global governance. The SCO’s experience demonstrates that only global governance grounded in the rule of law can truly offer all countries a fair and equitable environment for development, ensure a balance between rights and obligations, and steer the international order toward greater justice and reasonableness.

Resolving shared challenges through multilateralism and dialogue and consultation. In recent years, multilateral mechanisms have faced weakening and the risk of fragmentation, rooted in the instrumentalization of multilateralism by a handful of countries that use its name to pursue exclusionary agendas. True multilateralism is not merely about formal majority participation; it embodies fairness and justice in principle and equal rights and responsibilities in practice. Over long-term experience, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has refrained from drawing ideological lines, creating systemic antagonisms, or conjuring external imaginary adversaries. While fully preserving the foreign policy autonomy of its member states, it has deepened pragmatic cooperation around common security concerns and shared development interests, thus forging a new governance model distinct from unilateral hegemony and bloc politics. The SCO proactively aligns with multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Independent States, achieving complementary strengths and synergistic effectiveness between regional and global governance. At the same time, it consistently upholds the principles of equal consultation and win-win collaboration, charting a new path of cooperation characterized by “partnership without alliance, dialogue without confrontation.” The SCO’s predecessor, the “Shanghai Five,” began with the most sensitive issue of border‑related military confidence‑building, transforming longstanding historical issues into incremental trust through consultation and negotiation—embedding the DNA of dialogue and consultation from its very inception. Under the SCO framework, a Council of National Coordinators of Member States has been established to systematically coordinate communication and alignment among members, preemptively resolve differences in cooperation, and ensure the effective implementation of summit‑level consensus. This helps bridge the gap between high‑level political agreements and frontline practical collaboration, enabling multilateral dialogue to evolve from ad hoc meetings and consultations into comprehensive, full‑cycle governance. The SCO’s development experience demonstrates that multilateralism is not a matter of choice but the only viable path forward. Despite historical legacies, disparities in development levels, and divergent national interests, countries need not inevitably descend into confrontation. The key lies in steadfastly pursuing dialogue and consultation, managing conflicts, frictions, and differences within a structured dialogue framework, and turning shared concerns into concrete areas of cooperation.

Building a foundation of unity through the pursuit of the common good. At present, most countries worldwide are at a critical stage of modernization, making a stable and open external environment all the more essential. Yet global economic recovery remains sluggish, unilateralism and protectionism are rampant, and some nations are erecting “small yards with high walls,” forcibly pushing for “decoupling” and “supply chain fragmentation,” while clamoring for “de-risking” of supply chains—resulting in headwinds against economic globalization. In response, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) upholds a development path characterized by mutual benefit, win-win outcomes, inclusiveness, and shared prosperity; it unequivocally opposes trade protectionism, advocates tearing down barriers rather than building them, and promotes integration instead of decoupling, thereby steering economic globalization toward greater inclusiveness and shared benefits. The SCO consistently regards openness and cooperation as indispensable prerequisites for common development, continuously deepening strategic alignment among member states’ major economic development plans, and striving to forge a broad, open, mutually beneficial, and equitable space for collaboration. Recognizing that its members are generally undergoing rapid socio-economic development and confronting shared challenges such as poverty and climate change, China adheres to the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. Through high-quality Belt and Road cooperation—particularly in poverty reduction, agricultural collaboration, and vocational skills training—the country transforms its own development opportunities into shared regional prospects, helping member states strengthen their capacity for independent development. This mutually beneficial, inclusive model of cooperation exemplified by the SCO offers an important practical template for returning global governance to its fundamental purpose. Human well-being lies at the heart of global governance, and the peoples of all nations are both its principal participants and its ultimate beneficiaries. World prosperity and stability cannot be built on an ever-widening gap between rich and poor; only by advancing common development and delivering a greater sense of gain to all peoples can the global governance system garner broad support and function effectively.

Building a more just and equitable global governance system is both a feasible and attainable aspiration—and a historical process. Today, the trends toward a multipolar world, the democratization of international relations, and the advancement of the rule of law are unstoppable. It is an historical inevitability that human society will move from confrontation to cooperation, from imbalance to equilibrium, and from estrangement to mutual coexistence—A 25-year journey of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has already provided a clear answer. As times advance and peoples awaken, the foundations for power‑driven hegemony and “small‑circle” governance are steadily eroding. So long as all parties uphold the torch of multilateralism, remain steadfast in their resolve, and persevere in accumulating progress bit by bit, global governance will surely pierce through the haze and reach the shores of light.