China’s Xi welcomes Putin and Modi as Trump roils global order
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
China’s Xi welcomes Putin and Modi as Trump roils global order
Both Xi and Modi appear to be seeking a reset in a relationship long strained by mistrust and unresolved border disputes. Analysts warn the stakes go far beyond Asia. “What happens in this relationship matters to the rest of the world,” Chatham House’s Chietigj Bajpaee and Yu Jie put it: “If Western countries are serious about supporting India as a bulwark against a rising China, they need to develop more realistic expectations of what India can deliver”
“How in the hell did Trump so alienate Modi that he’s now attending a summit with autocrats, Xi and Putin?” Michael McFaul, a Hoover Senior Fellow at Stanford University and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, wrote on X. “Just last year, China and India were at war with each other!” he added.
Both Xi and Modi appear to be seeking a reset in a relationship long strained by mistrust and unresolved border disputes. Analysts warn the stakes go far beyond Asia. As Chatham House’s Chietigj Bajpaee and Yu Jie put it: “What happens in this relationship matters to the rest of the world.”
“If Western countries — particularly the U.S. — are serious about supporting India as a bulwark against a rising China, they need to develop more realistic expectations of what India can deliver,” they wrote in a recent analysis paper.
“India was never going to be the bulwark against China that the West (and the United States in particular) thought it was. … Modi’s China visit marks a potential turning point,” they wrote.
Putin will be in China through Wednesday, when Xi is hosting a military parade to commemorate the end of World War II, following Japan’s formal surrender. Alongside Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico will attend the parade, as well as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
Ahead of his journey to China, Putin said Moscow and Beijing stand together against “discriminatory sanctions” on global trade, as he headed to the gathering bringing together some of the world’s most heavily sanctioned countries, including North Korea, Iran, Myanmar and Belarus.
‘Powerful optics’: China’s Xi to welcome Putin, Modi in grand show of solidarity
Xi Jinping will gather more than 20 world leaders at a regional security forum in China next week. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit will be held in the northern port city of Tianjin from August 31 to September 1. The summit will feature Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to China in more than seven years as the two neighbours work on further defusing tensions roiled by deadly border clashes in 2020. The security-focused bloc, which began as a group of six Eurasian nations, has expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue and observer countries in recent years. Its remit has also enlarged from security and counter-terrorism to economic and military cooperation. But experts warn that the bloc’s appeal to Global South countries should not be underestimated, and that its effectiveness in addressing substantial security issues remains very limited. It is a platform that has increasing convening power, which helps in narrative projection, said Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Programme.
BEIJING (Reuters) -President Xi Jinping will gather more than 20 world leaders at a regional security forum in China next week in a powerful show of Global South solidarity in the age of Donald Trump while also helping sanctions-hit Russia pull off another a diplomatic coup.
Aside from Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia have been invited to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, to be held in the northern port city of Tianjin from August 31 to September 1.
The summit will feature Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to China in more than seven years as the two neighbours work on further defusing tensions roiled by deadly border clashes in 2020.
Modi last shared the same stage with Xi and Putin at last year’s BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, even as Western leaders turned their backs on the Russian leader amid the war in Ukraine. Russian embassy officials in New Delhi last week said Moscow hopes trilateral talks with China and India will take place soon.
“Xi will want to use the summit as an opportunity to showcase what a post-American-led international order begins to look like and that all White House efforts since January to counter China, Iran, Russia, and now India have not had the intended effect,” said Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of The China-Global South Project, a research agency.
“Just look at how much BRICS has rattled (U.S. President) Donald Trump, which is precisely what these groups are designed to do.”
This year’s summit will be the largest since the SCO was founded in 2001, a Chinese foreign ministry official said last week, calling the bloc an “important force in building a new type of international relations”.
The security-focused bloc, which began as a group of six Eurasian nations, has expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue and observer countries in recent years. Its remit has also enlarged from security and counter-terrorism to economic and military cooperation.
‘FUZZY’ IMPLEMENTATION
Analysts say expansion is high on the agenda for many countries attending, but agree the bloc has not delivered substantial cooperation outcomes over the years and that China values the optics of Global South solidarity against the United States at a time of erratic policymaking and geopolitical flux.
“What is the precise vision that the SCO represents and its practical implementation are rather fuzzy. It is a platform that has increasing convening power, which helps in narrative projection,” said Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Programme at the Takshashila Institution thinktank in Bangalore.
“But the SCO’s effectiveness in addressing substantial security issues remains very limited.”
Frictions remain between core members India and Pakistan. The June SCO defence ministers’ meeting was unable to adopt a joint statement after India raised objections, saying it omitted reference to the deadly April 22 attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir which led to the worst fighting in decades between India and Pakistan.
New Delhi also refused to join the SCO’s condemnation of Israeli attacks on Iran, a member state, earlier in June.
But the recent detente between India and China after five years of heightened border frictions, as well as renewed tariff pressure on New Delhi from the Trump administration, are driving expectations for a positive meeting between Xi and Modi on the sidelines of the summit.
“It’s likely (New Delhi) will swallow their pride and put this year’s SCO problems behind them in a bid to maintain momentum in the détente with China, which is a key Modi priority right now,” said Olander.
Analysts expect both sides to announce further incremental border measures such as troop withdrawals, the easing of trade and visa restrictions, cooperation in new fields including climate, and broader government and people-to-people engagement.
Despite the lack of substantive policy announcements expected at the summit, experts warn that the bloc’s appeal to Global South countries should not be underestimated.
“This summit is about optics, really powerful optics,” added Olander.
Modi is expected to depart from China after the summit, while Putin will stay on for a World War Two military parade in Beijing later in the week for an unusually long spell outside of Russia.
(Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Xi Welcomes Putin, Modi at SCO Summit As Trump Roils Alliances
Xi Welcomes Putin, Modi at SCO Summit As Trump Roils Alliances. The meeting aims to present China as a counterweight to Western influence. Delegations from Asia, the Middle East, and beyond underscore Beijing’s ambitions for global leadership. The summit is being described by Chinese officials as the largest in the SCO’s history, bringing together heads of state from across Asia, Mideast, and Eastern Europe. This high-profile gathering marks a crucial moment for China, aiming to solidify its role as a central figure in reshaping the global order, particularly as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to rattle long-standing alliances and pursue an “America First” foreign policy. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes 9 members, 16 observer and partner countries, representing over 40% of the global population and vast energy reserves. It has since expanded into a broad alliance of geopolitical weight, with members that include India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus, and observer or partner nations such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and the UAE.
Xi Welcomes Putin, Modi at SCO Summit As Trump Roils Alliances
SCO Summit & Xi’s Global Diplomacy Quick Looks
Xi hosts major leaders including Putin, Modi, and Iran’s president.
China presents the SCO as an alternative to Western institutions.
Summit follows Trump’s global realignment and ongoing U.S. trade war.
Russia touts alliance with China amid Ukraine invasion fallout.
SCO includes 9 members, 16 observer and partner countries.
SCO members oversee 40% of global population and vast energy reserves.
Xi’s hosting signals China’s intent to lead Eurasian diplomacy.
China prepares a symbolic military parade following the summit.
Xi Welcomes Putin, Modi at SCO Summit As Trump Roils Alliances
Deep Look
China’s Xi Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Putin and Modi at SCO Summit Amid Trump-Era Global Disruptions
TIANJIN, China — In a display of geopolitical strength and diplomatic theater, Chinese President Xi Jinping is welcoming a powerful cast of global leaders — including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — to Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
This high-profile gathering marks a crucial moment for China, aiming to solidify its role as a central figure in reshaping the global order, particularly as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to rattle long-standing alliances and pursue an “America First” foreign policy.
The summit is being described by Chinese officials as the largest in the SCO’s history, bringing together heads of state from across Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe — a stark contrast to the fracturing seen among Western nations in recent years.
“Beijing wants to signal that China is the indispensable convener in Eurasia,” said Rabia Akhtar, director of Pakistan’s Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research. “It is not just a participant — it is a primary architect.”
A Power Bloc to Challenge the West
Founded in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization originally focused on regional security between China, Russia, and Central Asian nations. But it has since expanded into a broad alliance of geopolitical weight, with members that include India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus, and observer or partner nations such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and the UAE.
Together, SCO members:
Represent over 40% of the global population
Govern nations rich in natural energy resources
Share a desire for a “multipolar world” that limits U.S. influence
Putin, who recently met with Trump in Alaska, praised his country’s partnership with China as a “stabilizing force.” He called for a “just, multipolar world order,” which echoes the joint strategy of Russia and China to reshape the existing U.S.-led global hierarchy.
The summit, staged in Tianjin — a port city symbolically tied to China’s colonial past — sets a powerful backdrop for China’s reemergence as a diplomatic and military power.
Modi’s Attendance Signals a Shift
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence adds significant political weight to the gathering. Modi skipped last year’s SCO summit in Kazakhstan amid strained China-India relations. But this year, he arrives as India’s ties with Washington cool and as Beijing and New Delhi cautiously move toward diplomatic thawing.
This recalibration may complicate U.S. efforts to position India as a strategic counterbalance to China in the Indo-Pacific — a key pillar of American foreign policy in recent years.
China’s Grand Stage Amid Trump-Led Upheaval
The summit coincides with mounting global unease over President Trump’s foreign policy realignments, especially his trade wars and unconventional diplomacy. While Western alliances experience uncertainty, China is positioning the SCO as a forum for global dialogue that transcends ideological divisions.
Adding to the symbolic weight of the event, several leaders — including Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — will stay for an upcoming military parade in Beijing, commemorating the end of World War II.
The parade will feature modern Chinese military advancements and highlight China’s role in defeating Imperial Japan — a theme intended to underscore Beijing’s historic legitimacy and military evolution.
Unity Despite Differences?
Despite vast differences in governance, culture, and regional interests, the SCO continues to function — at least in optics — as a unified group against Western dominance. However, analysts caution that its internal divisions remain significant.
“Without addressing internal conflicts and its mission, the SCO is just a showcase,” said Shen Dingli, a foreign affairs analyst based in Shanghai.
SCO summits have avoided directly addressing contentious topics like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or India-Pakistan clashes, and have yet to offer substantial resolutions to member disputes. However, the group has taken public stances, such as condemning U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran earlier this year.
SCO’s Expanding Reach
In recent years, the SCO has ramped up:
Joint military drills and anti-terrorism exercises
and Energy cooperation , including pipeline negotiations
, including pipeline negotiations Trade and investment discussions, especially as Western sanctions hit Russia and Iran
Yet practical outcomes remain elusive. Observers are watching this summit closely for signs of whether economic integration will finally accelerate or if the meeting will again serve more as a political signal than a policy engine.
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