The great lengths some countries are going to in their efforts to form cliques targeting particular countries and their self-serving foreign policies are in stark contrast to the commitment and efforts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to promote political trust, establish win-win cooperation, ensure equality between nations, maintain openness and inclusiveness, and guarantee equity and justice.

While the countries taking unilateral actions are leaving no stones unturned to push the world toward a quagmire of suspicion, confrontation, conflict, division and zero-sum games, the SCO member states are doing their utmost to prevent that from happening by helping the world restore its faith in unity, development and cooperation. The 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Friday represented the bloc's latest endeavor to that end.

That the SCO has issued statements on global energy and food security, and prepared the blueprint for deepening cooperation among its member states means it is taking concrete actions to not only reduce the global deficit in peace, development, trust and governance but also suggesting to those self-serving, division-sowing leaders which way to take at the historical crossroad the world has reached.

In fact, those leaders would do better to imbibe the Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations, and pursuit of common development — all pillars of the SCO — because common development and mutual benefit are the trend of the times.

It is precisely these points, as well as the need to guard against "color revolutions" and external interference in internal affairs, form a balanced and effective global security framework, and maintain peace, that President Xi Jinping highlighted in his speech in the SCO Summit, and the warm response he elicited from the participants has proved their importance in today's fast-changing world.

As President Xi said, "A proverb in Uzbekistan goes to the effect that 'With peace, a country enjoys prosperity, just as with rain, the land can flourish'." Indeed, peace is essential to any country's development.

As long as the SCO grasps the development trends of the times, succeeds in maintaining peace, and stands on the right side of history, as President Xi said, it can overcome international challenges. But for that, the SCO members have to strengthen unity and deepen cooperation, so as to build a more cohesive community with a shared future for the common good of the world.