Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday rolled out the red carpet for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi and about 20 other national leaders arriving for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
The Eurasian political and security summit — held in Tianjin this year — is a gathering designed to cement Beijing’s clout and champion its vision of a “multipolar world order.” Set up in 2001, it began with China, Russia and four Central Asian countries, as a counterweight to Western alliances such as NATO.
It now boasts 10 members and 16 dialogue partners and observers.
This year the summit will focus largely on U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. Trump has slapped 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil. Putin meanwhile is facing fresh Western sanctions tied to his ongoing war in Ukraine.
“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.
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