Belarus is scheduled to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as its 10th full member at the SCO Summit, to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from Wednesday to Thursday.

The increase in the membership of the SCO, which covers the largest area and population of any cooperation organization, reflects the organization's appeal in terms of values and development prospects. The increase in membership will also allow the SCO to play a more active role in international affairs amid the fast-changing global situation.

The international community has reached a crossroad with the confrontations and disputes between countries worsening because of the impacts of major country competition, regional conflicts and the volatile global economy, as well as the factors hindering the rise of developing countries and emerging markets. An apt example of such confrontations and disputes is the series of sanctions the United States has imposed on Russia since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, in order to maintain its global hegemony.

Under such circumstances, the development of international organizations and multilateral mechanisms, including the United Nations, faces new difficulties.

Philosophy, rules and goals are essential to establishing multilateral cooperation and determining whether a mechanism can help maintain regional and global stability and promote development. For example, the SCO members have been carrying forward the "Shanghai spirit", putting in practice new concepts of cooperation, development, security, civilization and global governance, and working to build a new model of regional cooperation.

However, changes in the external environment and the increase in the SCO's membership have created problems such as a decline in the SCO's decision-making efficiency, and an increase in the internal contradictions and functioning of the mechanism. At the Astana summit, SCO leaders will discuss how to reach a consensus on cooperation, so as to inject new impetus into the development of the SCO and address the internal contradictions.

China's top leader proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in Astana in 2013, with Asian countries joining it to coordinate their development policies with the Belt and Road Initiative. This gave birth to mechanisms such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor and China-Russia-Mongolia Economic Corridor, which have improved connectivity in the region covered by the SCO member states. In contrast, the US and other Western countries have been busy trying to decouple their economies with the Chinese economy.

As an important platform for connecting the Belt and Road Initiative with the development policies of its member states, the SCO is committed to opening up new avenues for regional development and cooperation.

The SCO stands for partnership, not an alliance, rejects the Cold-War mentality and zero-sum games, upholds equality among all countries, and builds a broad network of partnerships. It is capable of taking into account regional situations and national conditions and accommodating differences in political systems, economic strength and cultural traditions among SCO member states, as well as observer states and dialogue partners.

The SCO members need to boost national development and economic revitalization in a way that the coordination of their development strategies will promote economic regionalization. Expanding cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative will benefit national development and people's livelihoods in the SCO member states.

Since China proposed it in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative has become richer in experience and clearer in vision. It can provide "Chinese wisdom" for clearing the cooperation bottlenecks of the SCO as well as contribute to the establishment of a new type of international relations and a cooperative regional order.

To build a regional community with a shared future, we should build political mutual trust to support each other on core issues and independent paths of development, facilitate investment and trade, promote digital and green development, collectively respond to traditional and non-traditional security threats to maintain long-term regional stability, increase people-to-people exchanges to promote mutual learning and strengthen friendships, deepen cooperation on regional and global issues, and uphold international laws based on the UN Charter.

Moreover, the Astana summit is expected to emphasize the need to build a community with a shared future for SCO member states, which have historical ties and good state-to-state relations.

The SCO members will continue to contribute to regional and global development, promote multilateral cooperation, and safeguard their common strategic interests in order to better safeguard the countries' national security. In fact, by working together for the greater common good, the SCO members can make greater contributions to regional economic and cultural prosperity, and help improve the global governance system by making it more just and equitable.

The author is the director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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