Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit called on its frequent ally Russia and other regional nations to support each other in preventing “colour revolutions” that he says are being instigated by foreign powers.

At this year’s edition of the summit, which is being held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan said that member nations should help each other safeguard their security and development agendas. 

Additionally, Xi proposed that member states join China’s Global Security Initiative. The proposal suggests that other countries will not strengthen their security at the expense of other states. Xi had suggested the Global Security Initiative back in April this year. 

What are colour revolutions?

The term colour revolution is often used by media organisations across world to describe anti-government protests that took place in Eurasia early in the 21st century after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

Places that saw such revolutions were countries that belonged to the Soviet Union, the former state of Yugoslavia and the People’s Republic of China. However, the term has also been used to identify revolutions in other parts of the world, such as in the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region and even South America. The term first began to see use in the 1980s, and has continued on till the 2020s thus far. 

Notable examples of “colour revolutions” include the Bulldozer Revolution in Yugoslavia in 2000, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 and the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan in 2005.

For example, the Ukrainian Orange Revolution started because citizens of the country believed that the presidential elections had been rigged. The election between Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych was said to have been unfairly in favour of the latter. To that end, there was mass unrest and protest, with supporters of Yushchenko sporting the colour orange, signifying the colour of his campaign.