On February 22, 2024, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the reception marking the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretariat in Beijing.

In his speech, Wang Yi spoke highly of the Secretariat's important contributions to the development of the SCO. Wang Yi pointed out that since its founding, the SCO has followed the Shanghai Spirit featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for the diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development, setting an example of a new type of international relations and regional cooperation. Noting the accelerated evolution of changes unseen in a century and the volatile and chaotic international situation at present, Wang Yi said that there is a greater need for carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit and such a cooperation platform as the SCO. All members of the SCO should stand at the forefront of the times, set an example for cooperation and build an even closer community with a shared future and achieve common development goals.

All members need to consolidate regional security. All members should uphold the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, improve the SCO mechanism for dealing with security threats and challenges, and strengthen cooperation in strategy, defense, law enforcement, information and biosecurity, so as to build a strong security barrier together.

All members need to deepen practical cooperation. All members should strengthen the synergy between high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the development strategies of various countries and regional cooperation initiatives, build more cooperation platforms, create more development opportunities, and deliver the benefits of cooperation to more people.

All members need to enhance people-to-people connectivity. All members should expand people-to-people exchanges, strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, promote the harmonious development of diverse civilizations in the region, and promote mutual understanding and amity among people of all countries.

All members need to improve global governance. All members should adhere to multilateralism, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world, respect each other's core interests and development paths, strengthen strategic communication, increase mutual support, and make extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits the norm.

Wang Yi stressed that the sound development of the SCO is the common task of all members, and all member states should work together to make the SCO bigger, stronger and more solid, so that the SCO can play the role of "stabilizing anchor" amid the changes unseen in a century. China will continue to take the SCO as a diplomatic priority, and provide convenience and support for the work of the Secretariat as always. China supports Kazakhstan's work during its rotating presidency of the SCO. China is ready to work with all parties to ensure that the Astana Summit this year will produce fruitful results, open up new prospects for the development of the SCO, and contribute more "strength of the SCO" to the enduring peace and common prosperity of the world.

In his speech, Secretary-General of the SCO Zhang Ming said, over the past 20 years, the SCO has grown from six member states to a big family of 26 member states, observers and dialogue partners, creating a new cooperation model featuring solidarity and coordination, openness, win-win results, inclusiveness and mutual learning among countries with different social systems and development paths. The Secretariat will remain true to its original aspiration, forge ahead, improve its own development and provide more solid support for the SCO's development.

Before the reception, Wang Yi met with Zhang Ming and key officials of the Secretariat.

More than 200 people, including diplomatic envoys of SCO countries to China and representatives of international organizations in China, attended the reception.