Chinese President Xi Jinping officially welcomed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and about twenty other leaders who have arrived in China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.
One of the most notable moments was the warm handshake between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the forum. The meeting, being held this year in the city of Tianjin, is a key political and security forum for the Eurasian region, giving Beijing the opportunity to strengthen its influence and promote its vision of a “multipolar world order.” The organisation was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, and four Central Asian countries in response to Western alliances like NATO. Today, it has ten member states and sixteen other dialogue partners and observers.
At the centre of this year’s agenda is the trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump, who has imposed 50% tariffs on Indian products due to India’s continued import of Russian oil. At the same time, Vladimir Putin is facing a new round of Western sanctions related to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The summit, scheduled for Sunday and Monday, will be attended by about 20 Eurasian heads of state and government, including Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Some leaders, including Putin and Pezeshkian, have been invited to extend their stay until Wednesday to attend Beijing’s grand military parade celebrating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with Japan’s official surrender.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will travel to neighbouring ally China for the event to stand alongside Xi Jinping. North Korea has become a key ally of Russia in the war against Ukraine, sending thousands of soldiers to fight alongside Russian forces. It remains unclear whether the leaders of Russia and North Korea will have private talks on the sidelines of the military parade in Beijing.
Several of Kyiv’s allies believe that Beijing is supporting Moscow in its military operations against Ukraine. China, however, claims neutrality and accuses Western powers of prolonging the war by arming Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called relations with Russia “the most strategically important between major powers” in a turbulent and changing world.
In an interview with China’s Xinhua news agency, Putin stated that the summit “will strengthen the SCO’s ability to deal with the challenges and threats of the modern world, consolidating solidarity across the common Eurasian space,” and emphasised the need for a “more just, multipolar world order.” In the run-up to the summit, Beijing praised multilateralism, steering clear of “Cold War mentalities and outdated concepts of geopolitical confrontation,” a clear jab at the US and its allies.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation consists of 10 member states and 16 countries with observer or dialogue partner status. It represents almost half of the world’s population and 23.5% of the world’s GDP, and it is often presented as a counterweight to NATO.
This year’s summit is described as the largest since the SCO’s founding in 2001, amid multiple crises directly affecting its members: the US trade dispute with China and India, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme.
There is no shortage of internal disputes within the SCO. China and India are working to strengthen their relations after border hostilities in 2020, especially in the wake of the tariffs announced by the US. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Tianjin on Saturday, marking his first visit to China since 2018. However, he is not among the leaders announced to attend Wednesday’s military parade in Beijing.
