On May 28, 2018, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a briefing for Chinese and foreign media. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi introduced relevant situation of President Xi Jinping's hosting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Qingdao Summit. Member of the Standing Committee of Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Secretary of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee Zhang Jiangting introduced relevant situation of Qingdao's preparatory work for the Summit, and jointly answered questions from the journalists with Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Hanhui.

Wang Yi announced that the 18th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State will be held in Qingdao of Shandong Province from June 9 to 10. President Xi Jinping will preside over the meeting and hold relevant activities. Leaders of the SCO member states and observer states as well as principals of relevant international organizations will attend the meeting at invitation.

Wang Yi expressed that the Qingdao Summit is the first summit held by the SCO after its membership expansion, as well as the second major home-field diplomatic activity of China this year. At the scheduled time, President Xi Jinping will jointly discuss the undertakings of cooperation with leaders of other seven SCO member states and the four SCO observer states, as well as principals of the United Nations and other international organizations and institutions. President Xi Jinping will hold a welcoming banquet for guests from various parties, and they will jointly enjoy artistic performance of lights and fireworks. President Xi Jinping will also successively chair small-scale and large-scale talks to exchange in-depth views with all the other participants on the development status quo and prospects of the SCO, cooperation in various fields under the new situation and major international and regional topics. President Xi Jinping will, together with leaders of other SCO member states, jointly sign and issue the Qingdao Declaration, as well as ratify more than ten cooperation documents covering security, economy, people-to-people and cultural engagement and other fields. Combining with the Qingdao Summit, President Xi Jinping will also invite President of Russia, President of Kazakhstan, President of Kyrgyzstan and President of Iran to visit China, and will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of other relevant countries.

Wang Yi pointed out that the SCO came into being in China 17 years ago. On the Astana Summit last year, the presidency baton of the SCO was again passed to China. Since China assumed the presidency over the last year, China has, with the starting points of carrying forward the "Shanghai Spirit", tapping into the potential after membership expansion, promoting unity and cooperation and jointly striving for stability and development, held more than 160 activities under the strong support of all parties, including a series of important institutional meetings and large-scale multilateral events. As a result, the political mutual trust among all parties has been elevated to new highs, and safety collaboration has achieved new progress. There have been new breakthroughs in practical cooperation and new outcomes in people-to-people and cultural exchanges, laying the solid foundation for the opening of the Qingdao Summit.

Wang Yi stressed that we expect that the SCO will set sail again from Qingdao, focus on the new era, reach new consensus, formulate new measures, map out new blueprint, and achieve new development.

The first is to form new consensus on jointly promoting unity. The Summit will release the Qingdao Declaration, comprehensively summarize the development experience of the SCO over the past 17 years, and continue vigorously carrying forward the "Shanghai Spirit" featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversified culture and pursuit of common development. The Summit will improve cohesion, action, and influence of the SCO, as well as closely center on topics including the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and the building of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation. The Summit will build consensus among all parties, endow the "Shanghai Spirit" with new epochal connotation, and further improve the unity and mutual trust among member states, so as to consolidate the foundation of future development for the SCO.

The second is to formulate new measures for jointly building security. Fighting against the "three forces", drug trafficking and selling and cyber crime is one of the focuses of the SCO Qingdao Summit. During the Summit, leaders of the member states will make in-depth analysis of the international and regional security situation, clearly set the striving direction for coping with risks and challenges, discuss specific measures for elevating the level of security cooperation, expanding security cooperation areas and enriching security cooperation practice, as well as review multiple cooperation documents, in a bid to contribute "the SCO strength" to world peace.

The third is to inject fresh impetus into joint pursuit of development. The SCO Qingdao Summit will pay high attention to the development issues and send out a loud voice on improving global governance, consolidating multilateral trade system and other topics. The Summit will advocate the concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development, and endeavor to create a more favorable external development environment for the member states. Besides, a series of cooperation documents will be adopted at the Summit so that the political consensus of all parties will be further translated into cooperation results.

The fourth is to map out the new blueprint for the joint building of our homeland. The SCO Qingdao Summit will hold high the banner of the "Shanghai Spirit", adhere to the concept of ever-lasting friendship, carry forward the tradition of unity and coordination, as well as reach new consensus on safeguarding regional peace and security and accelerating the integrated development among the member states. The Summit will issue new plans, push all parties to strengthen the integration of development strategies, forge engines for common development, and advance the "Belt and Road" construction in particular, in a bid to elevate the overall level of regional economic cooperation.

Wang Yi expressed that as the well-known hometown of Confucius and Mencius, Shandong Province is one of the cradles of the Chinese culture. Qingdao, among the first opening coastal cities of China, is a key city of promoting the "Belt and Road" construction. It is believed that the distinguished guests of all parties will have opportunities to appreciate the extensive and profound Qi-Lu culture and experience the vigorous vitality of China's reform and opening up at the scheduled time. And it is believed that the Qingdao Summit will surely become a new milestone in the development process of the SCO.

Zhang Jiangting noted that Shandong Province and Qingdao attach great importance to the preparatory work of the Summit and press ahead with all the preparatory work in an efficient and orderly manner. We have actively carried out work in such areas as stadium renovation, conference service, comprehensive support, improvement in urban quality and citizen sharing, achieving sound results. We are confident of holding a splendid and complete summit with diversified characteristics.