Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his concerns over external influence on his country. The Chinese leader was speaking at the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2022, which is being hosted in Uzbekistan.

“We should prevent external forces from instigating a colour revolution“, Xi Jinping said. The comments came after the Chinese President was part of bilateral talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

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Xi Jinping’s “colour revolutions” comment was a reference to protests that toppled unpopular regimes in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East, news agency Associated Press reported.

After expressing his concerns, the Chinese President offered to set up a regional counterterrorism training center. The initiative also included an offer to train 2,000 police officers to “strengthen law enforcement capacity building.” He gave no further details.

Xi’s comments at a security summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders from Central Asia, India and Iran reflect official Chinese anxiety that Western support for pro-democracy and human rights activists is a plot to undermine Xi’s ruling Communist Party and other authoritarian governments.

The Chinese President also attempted to promote the “Global Security Initiative”, which was launched in April this year in response to the resurgence of Quad, an alliance between the United States, Australia, India and Japan.

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Central Asia is part of China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to expand trade by building ports, railways and other infrastructure across an arc of dozens of countries from the South Pacific through Asia to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

On Thursday, Putin held a one-on-one meeting with Xi and thanked the Chinese leader for his government’s “balanced position” on the Ukraine war. Putin said he was ready to discuss unspecified “concerns” by China about Ukraine.