State-run Chinese newspapers Monday crowed about a weekend meeting of a regional security bloc hosted by China, painting it as a harmonious, anti-protectionist counterpoint to the Group of Seven summit in Canada that was marred by acrimony.
The Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid run by the ruling Communist Party's main newspaper, the People's Daily, asked why the G-7 had "ended in disarray" while the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the port city of Qingdao was "full of enthusiasm and ambition."
"The key lies in that the Shanghai Spirit, featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development, echoes the theme of the era, in which unilateralism can hardly prevail," it said.