TIANJIN, China: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday unveiled a wide-ranging Global Governance Initiative (GGI), calling for a more just and more equitable world order, in what observers see as a direct challenge to the dominance of the current unipolar world system.
Speaking at the “Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Plus” meeting in Tianjin, President Xi said the world had entered “a new period of turbulence and transformation” marked by rising protectionism, hegemonism, and unilateralism.
He argued that global governance was at a “new crossroads,” urging countries to resist Cold War mentality and to work toward a community with a shared future for humanity.
The SCO Plus meeting refers to a gathering of leaders from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states, plus other invited countries and international organisations.
The SCO is a regional international organisation that aims to promote cooperation and stability in the Eurasian region.
The proposed GGI is built on five pillars: sovereign equality, respect for international law, multilateralism, a people-centred approach, and real action to ensure tangible results.
Xi stressed that all nations, regardless of size or wealth, must be “equal participants, decision-makers and beneficiaries” in global governance.
Linking the initiative to the founding principles of the SCO, Xi noted that over the past 24 years, the organisation had evolved into a catalyst for reform in the international system, and should now play a leading role in advancing the GGI.
He urged member states to safeguard regional security through mechanisms involving the SCO Universal Centre for Countering Security Challenges and the SCO Anti-Drug Centre, while adhering to non-alignment and non-confrontation.
The Chinese leader also announced a series of cooperation platforms and centres under the SCO framework, including initiatives in energy, green industry, digital economy, scientific innovation, and artificial intelligence.
He pledged expanded Belt and Road cooperation, integration of renewable energy projects, and joint participation in China’s lunar research program.
Xi further emphasised cultural and people-to-people exchanges, pledging Chinese medical assistance programs for SCO countries, including thousands of cataract operations and cancer screenings over the next five years.
Framing the initiative as part of a broader push for multipolarity, Xi called on SCO states to “unequivocally oppose hegemonism and power politics” and to deepen ties with multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, ASEAN, and the Eurasian Economic Union.
The address comes ahead of China’s commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War, where Xi said Beijing would promote a “correct historical perspective” and defend the “fruits of victory” while advancing reforms in global governance.
