Xi says China, partners will take Shanghai forum to a new level

China will work with all parties in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to take the regional security forum to a new level, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday, unveiling his ambition for a new global security order that poses a challenge to the United States.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has set a model for a new type of international relations, Xi said in opening remarks addressing more than 20 world leaders at a two-day summit held in northern China’s Tianjin, adding that the forum unequivocally opposed external interference.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Indian President Narendra Modi and other leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia attended the opening ceremony in a major show of Global South solidarity.

Xi spoke about constructive participation in international affairs, opposing hegemonism and power politics, as well as promoting multilateralism in his remarks.

The security-focused bloc, which began as a group of six Eurasian nations, has expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue and observer countries in recent years.

A day before his visit, Putin blasted Western sanctions in a written interview with China’s official Xinhua news agency, saying Moscow and Beijing jointly opposed “discriminatory” sanctions in global trade.

Russia’s economy is on the brink of recession, weighed by trade curbs and the cost of the war.