Xi Jinping sends unity message at regional security summit in China after G7 disarray

Beijing talked up regional efforts to fight terrorism and boost economic cooperation at a security summit that wrapped up in China on Sunday – hours after the Group of Seven summit in Canada ended in disarray, as the rift deepened between the US and its allies.

The eight members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, led by China and Russia, reached a consensus on strengthening cooperation on anti-terrorism and efforts to reconstruct war-torn Afghanistan during the two-day meeting in coastal Chinese city Qingdao.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on members of the security grouping to abandon the “cold-war mentality and concept of a zero-sum game”, and to “reject confrontation against the bloc and seeking absolute security for oneself at the cost of others”.

Xi – who was addressing counterparts including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rowhani – also defended the rules of the World Trade Organisation and multilateral system in a world where “unilateralism, trade protectionism and a backlash against globalisation” was taking new forms.