Chinese initiatives inspire SCO's growth, development in new era

QINGDAO - Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are meeting in Qingdao, a scenic coastal city in Shandong province, for a summit over the weekend that is set to open a new chapter in the bloc's history.

Seventeen years after its establishment, the SCO has evolved from a security cooperation platform into an organization for comprehensive cooperation, including economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

China has been boosting SCO cooperation with new practical proposals promising benefits to all involved, with the flagship being the Belt and Road Initiative, which President Xi Jinping put forward in 2013.