Meet at SCO, Blooming Tianjin Splendor

Tianjin has established 103 pairs of international friendly city relationships, covering 54 countries across five continents, especially 20 pairs of friendly cities with SCO member countries. A map of friendly city interactions is being drawn, with economic and trade ties as the bond, culture as the bridge, and people's hearts as the foundation—

Using Cities as Media, Connecting with the World

Our reporter Zhang Qing

　　This year is the "China Year" of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The SCO summit will be hosted in Tianjin this autumn, a major event in the overall work plan of the Party Central Committee this year, a joyful occasion welcoming SCO "home," and a grand event in Tianjin's development process, reflecting the care and high trust of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core towards Tianjin. When the nation has a grand event, the Haihe River stirs with joy. Starting today, our newspaper launches the "Meet at SCO, Blooming Tianjin Splendor" column to widely spread and promote the "Shanghai Spirit," fully demonstrate the demeanor of China's major-country diplomacy; focus on the city's cadres and masses to be proud, honorable, and responsible hosts, actively participate in summit preparation and service support work, and strive to be civilized and courteous Tianjin people with concrete actions and style; report on our city's cooperation achievements with SCO countries in economic and trade exchanges, cultural exchanges, and tell the stories of SCO, China, and Tianjin. In 2025, it will again be the "China Year" of the SCO. The SCO summit will be hosted in Tianjin this autumn, which is not only a grand event in Tianjin's development process but also marks the SCO's new departure from China towards a closer community with a shared future. On the coast of the Bohai Sea and beside the Haihe River, as one of China's first coastal port cities open to the outside world and an important intersection of the "Belt and Road," Tianjin, leveraging its geographical advantages and open mindset, has closely connected with 103 friendly cities in 54 countries worldwide, weaving a network of friendship across mountains and seas, including 20 pairs of friendly cities with SCO countries. From port linkage in Northeast Asia to vocational education co-construction in ASEAN, from the cradle of craftsmen by the Lancang-Mekong River to civil dialogue on the Eurasian continent, Tianjin uses economic and trade cooperation, science, education, culture, and people-to-people exchanges as the warp and weft to outline a vivid and three-dimensional picture of friendly city interactions on the "Belt and Road" canvas, also writing a brilliant chapter of friendly city exchanges with SCO countries. Using economic and trade ties as the bond, jointly drawing a new blueprint for high-quality development. During the China-Central Asia Summit held on May 18, 2023, Tianjin officially established a friendly city relationship with Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with close exchanges in economy, trade, education, and personnel exchanges. As the closest starting point from Northeast Asia to the Eurasian Land Bridge, Tianjin has recently made full use of its location and port advantages to continuously deepen economic and trade cooperation with countries involved in the "Belt and Road" initiative. Last September, Tianjin established friendly city relationships with Tashkent City and Jizzakh Region in Uzbekistan. The two sides have frequent high-level interactions, multiple delegation visits, promoting their social development and economic investment environments, and conducting multi-field cooperation such as business matchmaking.

　"Tianjin and Tashkent City and Jizzakh Region share compatible development concepts, with different market scales and resource endowments, strong industrial complementarity, and huge cooperation potential, making them good partners on the path to modernization," said a relevant municipal department official. In the future, they will further deepen exchanges and cooperation in industrial parks, economic and trade relations, and jointly create a new situation of mutual benefit and win-win. Using culture as a bridge, jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind. If economic and trade cooperation is the backbone of friendly city exchanges, science, education, and culture are the lifeblood flowing through it. At the training building of the Cambodian National Polytechnic Institute in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a "friendly city story" driven by a China-Cambodia vocational education cooperation project unfolds daily. The Lancang-Mekong Vocational Education Training Center is a fruitful result of vocational education cooperation among Lancang-Mekong countries and deepened China-Cambodia exchanges. The center, jointly established by Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences and the Cambodian National Polytechnic Institute, is an international vocational education center integrating vocational training, educational research, cultural inheritance, and innovation and entrepreneurship, operating in a market-oriented manner. "Teaching people to fish is better than giving fish," said Pang Zirui, Director of International Exchange and Cooperation at Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences. Over the years, the center has trained a large number of high-quality technical and skilled talents, providing effective human resource support for Cambodia's economic and social development. "We will also take the 75th anniversary of China-Vietnam diplomatic relations as an opportunity, leverage the role of friendly cities, expand the radiation capacity of the Lancang-Mekong Vocational Education Training Center, and sign agreements to build the Lancang-Mekong Vocational Education Vietnam Center (Haiphong City)," said Pang Zirui. Over the years, Tianjin has continuously deepened the connotation of friendly cities and expanded exchanges and cooperation in science, education, culture, and sports. "In Pakistan, many people know China as the first foreign country after birth," said a Pakistani girl named Yougala. On September 17, 2021, the opening ceremony of the China-Pakistan diplomatic anniversary celebration was held at Donghu Square in Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone. Yougala and her friends, who love Chinese clothing, food, dance, and architecture, participated in the celebration. During the event, children from Tianjin and Pakistan sang their respective national songs and jointly sang "Jasmine Flower." Tianjin Peking Opera actors also performed "Pear Blossom Ode" on site, showcasing China's national art to Pakistani friends. On the same day, Moeen Haque, then Pakistan's ambassador to China, signed a letter of intent to establish friendly city relations between Punjab Province, Islamabad City, Karachi City of Pakistan, and our city. In recent years, Tianjin and Pakistani friendly cities have maintained very friendly exchanges. Using people's hearts as the foundation, jointly composing a new chapter of civilization and mutual learning. When the Belarusian National Model Song and Dance Troupe danced "Kalinka" at Tianjin Jinwan Grand Theatre, and Chinese martial arts "Eighteen Styles" appeared on the big stage of Mogilev State Cultural Palace, the grand narrative of friendly city exchanges turned into specific and warm moments. The friendship between nations lies in the closeness of their people, and the closeness of people lies in the connection of hearts. In recent years, Tianjin has continuously deepened friendly exchanges and cooperation in civil diplomacy, allowing more friendly city residents to understand Tianjin and comprehend China. Last June, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the establishment of friendly exchange and cooperation relations between Tianjin and Mogilev Region of Belarus, Tianjin held a three-day "Tianjin Week" series of activities locally, which remains a memory for many. "Our martial arts performers had just finished performing, and the local audience all stood up and applauded vigorously," said Sang Xi, national martial arts champion and founder of Juxianyuan Martial Arts Center, who led the team to participate in the grand "Tianjin Week" event and gave a wonderful performance in the "Blooming Friendship" special cultural show. She said she was very proud to make friendly city friends fall in love with Chinese martial arts, which can be considered a contribution to Tianjin's civil diplomacy.

　　Thirteen-year-old girl Qiao Wanqi shared the same feelings as Sang Xi. At that time, she and her friends performed the guzheng ensemble "Battle Typhoon," which also won enthusiastic applause. "After the performance, many foreign friends wanted to take photos with me, and I suddenly felt like a little star," Qiao Wanqi said with a smile.

　　"I made new friends from Kazakhstan and look forward to their coming to Tianjin for summer camp." Recently, students from Yinghua International High School held a friendly online interaction with teachers and students from related schools in Kazakhstan via the internet. While sharing their unique cultures and cuisines, Yinghua students also presented traditional Chinese cultural performances such as erhu, martial arts, and calligraphy to their Kazakh friends.

　　At Tianjin Yinghua Experimental School located in Wuqing District, Tianjin, a similar scene often "plays out," with the seeds of friendship deeply rooted in the hearts of young people. Relying on the distinctive training system for international students developed over the years, the school has always actively promoted educational and cultural cooperation and exchanges with countries and regions involved in the "Belt and Road" initiative. It has become a member school of a community with 14 outstanding basic education schools from 8 countries including Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

　　"Integrate China and the world, embark on the future, and run the school for the rise of China" has always been the original intention and mission upheld by Yinghua. The school's chairman, Lin Xiangyang, stated that in the future, they will actively expand the Yinghua "Belt and Road" education community, building Yinghua's distinctive "Belt and Road" study-abroad education channel into an important educational alliance exchange mechanism between China and the countries jointly building the "Belt and Road," contributing to comprehensive and multi-field exchange and cooperation.

　　Using friendship as a bridge, connecting hearts, making friends for the country, and cooperating globally. "The theme of this year's SCO summit is 'Promoting the Shanghai Spirit: SCO in Action.' We will focus on this theme and main line to carry out comprehensive cooperation with the SCO member cities based on existing cooperation," said Luan Jianzhang, director of the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, in an interview.