Chinese President Xi Jinping criticized other countries’ “bullying practices” at a major summit attended by Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday.
“We should uphold fairness and justice,” Xi said at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin. Xi’s China has emerged as a major ally of Putin during the course of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In comments viewed widely as aimed at U.S. President Donald Trump and his global trade war, Xi said those gathered must “oppose the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and bullying practices.”
Trump has targeted China and India with some of his steepest tariffs, recently upping India’s rate to 50 percent and citing its purchases of cheap Russian oil, which helps fill the Kremlin’s war chest.
Speaking to an audience of around 20 leaders, including Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Xi said the SCO would promote a multilateral trading system.
Set up in 2001, the group began with China, Russia and four Central Asian countries, as a counterweight to Western alliances such as NATO. It now has 10 full members and 16 countries that are partners and observers, among them Iran, Belarus and Myanmar.
The SCO gathering in Tianjin comes ahead of Wednesday’s main event in Beijing: China’s Victory Day parade. Putin is due to attend, alongside North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
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