SCO to play key role in shaping multipolar world order: Russian expert

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is positioned to take on a more prominent role in addressing global security and economic challenges through the expansion of its membership and scope of activities, allowing member states to develop their potential in help building a multipolar world order, according to a Russian expert.

Dr. Julia Melnikova, program manager at the Russian International Affairs Council, made the comment following the just-concluded SCO summit in Kazakhstan, which saw the adoption of the Astana Declaration and 25 strategic documents covering cooperation in areas ranging from energy to counterterrorism.

Melnikova emphasized the importance of the summit's outcomes, noting that they reflect a shared understanding among member states of the need to broaden the organization's scope.

"I think it's very important now that the results of the summit reflect the understanding that clearly all member states now share: that the organizational scope -- both in membership and the number of the tasks that they perform -- has to be enlarged. There has long been this kind of conversation about whether, what the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has to do in order to keep up with the new realities, new standards. The organization was created for Russia and China to address the issues coming both from Central Asia and happening within Central Asia. Now, the organization has clearly transcended this boundary, and the organization has to be set for more. And Russia and China were the two countries who were discussing whether it should be economic security, social security, whether it should be climate change, what can this be given the current realities," said Melnikova.

Melnikova stressed the strategic importance of the SCO in President Vladimir Putin's recently announced Eurasian Security Architecture.

For Russia, making the SCO one of the pillars of this architecture is crucial, she said, highlighting the organization's significant role in shaping the future of Eurasian security. She then emphasized that the SCO should serve as a platform for member nations to develop and enhance their potential in shaping a multipolar world order.

"And I actually think the key for the SCO is not to become the alternative to Western blocs, to any blocs. Not to become a bloc is the way forward for the SCO, but to become a space where the nations comprising the organization can be developing and can be enriching their potential to become the centers of the multi-polar world order. And this is exactly what major powers are now doing. This is exactly what we saw yesterday in Kazakhstan. Because we saw that they are now absolutely convinced that energy aspects, ecological aspects, economic aspects are not less of cornerstones of Eurasian security than terrorism, extremisms and separatism, which were the 'three evils' the organization was created against. And I think that this expansion of the scope of the organization is indeed a way forward, as the way the president put it," Melnikova said.

Since its inception in China's Shanghai in 2001, the SCO has expanded from a regional organization with six members into a trans-regional organization with 10 full members, two observer countries, and 14 dialogue partners.

SCO to play key role in shaping multipolar world order: Russian expert

Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba has encouraged China and other countries facing false narratives propagated by Western powers to embrace their own histories in order to move forward.

In an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG) aired on Friday, Mbumba called out Western scholars and commentators who have painted China as a "neo-imperialist" power rather than a country intent on pursuing peaceful development.

The president rejected this framing, stressing that China and African countries have fought shoulder-to-shoulder against imperialism and colonialism. That history, he said, should not be forgotten amid international efforts to pursue common development.

"I think one thing we must understand -- honoring your history. Honoring the history of the former leaders and honoring the culture and history of your own country come in many ways. Some people write about it. Some people invent things about it. Some people will produce energy, food and other things. Some other people respect and protect their own country, whether it is with their harbors or space or land or air. So, respect comes in many ways," Mbumba said.

"The 'amnesia' is the jealousy. We must admit that some people are just jealous of what China has become in such a short time getting so many millions of people out of poverty and hunger and putting them on par with the rest of the developed countries. But ours now is to make sure that we cooperate in the development around the economies, in the training of our people, in providing health to our people. You are now free, behave like free people and develop. Choose your friends and talk to your friends the way you want to talk and not to be told who to talk to and who not to engage with," added the Namibian president.

Honoring of history vital to overcoming false Western narratives: Namibian president