Legacy: Experts see GGI as positive force reshaping global governance
As Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, takes the baton from China's Tianjin to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit this year, observers said they believe the legacy of the Tianjin summit will be carried forward and have a lasting, positive impact on global governance.
The SCO Summit in Tianjin last year was the largest in the organization's history, and it yielded fruitful outcomes, including an SCO development strategy for the next 10 years and a political decision to set up an SCO Development Bank. In addition, six pragmatic cooperation platforms were established and six action plans for high-quality development formulated.
At the "SCO Plus" Meeting in Tianjin last year, President Xi Jinping announced that China will work with other SCO member states to increase the installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic power by 10 million kilowatts each over the next five years.
In the past year, nearly three-quarters of the proposed wind and photovoltaic power projects have been started, Xinhua News Agency reported. Also, more than two-thirds of the 100 "small but beautiful" livelihood assistance projects within the SCO framework have been approved.
Chen Yurong, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies' Department for World Peace and Security Studies, said that one of the objectives of the Bishkek summit is to further consolidate consensus among various parties and advance the implementation of the outcomes of the Tianjin summit.
"Last year's summit in Tianjin outlined a strategic blueprint for the SCO's development over the next 10 years, ushering in a new phase of high-quality development for the organization," Chen said.
In Tianjin, leaders of SCO member states also signed agreements to set up the SCO Universal Center for Countering Security Challenges and Threats, the Information Security Center, the Center for Combating Transnational Organized Crime and the Anti-Drug Center.
Sun Zhuangzhi, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, noted that China has been consistently upholding the Shanghai Spirit, leading the development of the SCO's guiding principles and enhancing practical cooperation among its members.
"China has become a key engine driving the SCO forward," Sun added.
During the Tianjin summit, Xi also put forward the landmark Global Governance Initiative, which followed the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.
"The SCO should step up to play a leading role and set an example in carrying out the Global Governance Initiative," Xi said.
Last week, China's Ambassador to France Deng Li confirmed that in the past year, the GGI "has garnered support and endorsement from nearly 160 countries and international organizations".
Last month, Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrote in an article that "over 60 countries have actively joined" the Group of Friends of Global Governance. The group has been established in New York in the US, in Geneva, Switzerland, and in Vienna, Austria.
Experts said the GGI has developed from a China-proposed initiative into an international practice, noting that the SCO has set a successful example of improving global governance and has become a positive driving force for building and reforming the global governance system.
"The SCO enjoys both the conditions and the capacity to seize the opportunity presented by the joint implementation of the Global Governance Initiative to further fulfill the organization's duty and honor its commitment in global affairs and provide more public goods to the international community," said Chen, the CIIS expert.
Sun, the CASS scholar, said the SCO should keep promoting openness and pragmatism, continue to improve the institutional design of the SCO partner mechanism, make good use of the "SCO Plus" mechanism, steadily take forward all-around and comprehensive cooperation in governance, and boost positivity in global governance.
