Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Sept 16 (ABC):China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday called for regional countries to reshape the international order at a summit in Uzbekistan touted as a challenge to Western global influence. Leaders should “work together to promote the development of the international order in a more just and rational direction”, Xi said at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization including the leaders of Russia, Iran and central Asian countries.
The SCO — made up of China, India, Pakistan, Russia and the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — was set up in 2001 as a political, economic and security organization to rival Western institutions. Xi told the summit that members should “abandon zero-sum games and bloc politics,” as well as “uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core.” tjx/je/jmm APP