Xi Jinping warns SCO to ‘resist external interference’ in latest veiled swipe at US
- Chinese leader issues plea for unity, warning members they faced a joint ‘threat’ from the ‘cold war mindset’
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to “resist external interference” in a veiled reference to pressure from the United States and its allies.
Xi was speaking in Kazakhstan at the annual summit of the SCO, a regional economic and security bloc largely driven by China and Russia that has seen its remit grow in the two decades or so since its formation.
“We must consolidate the forces of unity and join hands in resisting external interference. We must firmly support each other and handle our internal differences in a spirit of peace and harmony,” Xi told the assembled regional leaders, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Xi spoke to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit on Wednesday, their fifth meeting of the year.
Putin, who has been shunned by the West since invading Ukraine, hailed a “golden era of ties between China and Russia” at the meeting and said the relationship is “being built on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and respect for each other’s sovereignty”, according to the Russian Tass news agency.
Without naming specific countries, Xi warned on Thursday that the SCO members faced the “threats, risks and challenges” that come from “the cold war mindset” and repeated other coded references favoured by Beijing to criticise the US.
