TIANJIN:
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) at the largest-ever summit of “Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Plus” in the Chinese port city of Tianjin.
“I look forward to working with all countries for a more just and equitable global governance system and advancing toward a community with a shared future for humanity,” Xi said in his address at the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO.
Five principles highlighted by President Xi for the GGI include sovereign equality, international rule of law, multilateralism, people-centered approach, and focus on real actions.
The Chinese leader called on SCO members to forge ahead with solid steps for a better future. He called on member states to carry forward the “Shanghai Spirit” in a world fraught with challenges and changes, and better tap into the organisation’s potential.
“We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics, and practise true multilateralism,” Xi said, in a thinly veiled swipe at the United States and President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. “Global governance has reached a new crossroads,” he added.
Xi was hosting more than 20 leaders at a summit in the Chinese port city for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a China-backed initiative given renewed impetus by the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After the summit, Modi shared a ride with Putin in the Russian leader’s armoured Aurus limousine en route to their bilateral meeting. “Conversations with him are always insightful,” Modi wrote on X.
At the bilateral meeting, Putin addressed Modi in Russian as “Dear Mr Prime Minister, dear friend.”
Putin, whose country has forged even closer economic and security ties with China amid the fallout from the Ukraine war, said the SCO had revived “genuine multilateralism”, with national currencies increasingly used in mutual settlements. Agencies
