THE SCO Tianjin Summit 2025 with the 25th Heads of State Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, held from August 31 to September 1, 2025, in Tianjin, China was the largest summit in SCO’s history and was the fifth time that China hosted the meeting.
The alliance showed firm commitment and cooperation, with the two-day event of non-Western countries showcasing Beijing’s desire for a new global security and economic order challenging the US. In a thinly-veiled swipe at US President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the “shadows of Cold War mentality and bullying have not dissipated.” Warning the world has entered “a new phase of turbulence” with global governance at a “new crossroads,” Xi urged joint efforts for “a more just and balanced international governance framework.” How far Beijing’s push to reshape the global order will materialize remains to be seen.
The annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit has wound down in Tianjin with signals of a closer relationship among its members at a time when the world has been roiled by US trade policies and tariffs. The two-day event, attended by more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries, was seen as showcasing Beijing’s ambition for a new global security and economic order that poses a challenge to the US. The world has entered “a new phase of turbulence” with global governance at a “new crossroads,” Xi said, calling for joint efforts to build a “more just and balanced international governance framework.”Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first meeting on Chinese soil in seven years, sharing a vision of being partners not rivals.
The leaders of the world’s two most populous nations — representing some 2.8 billion people — pledged to step up cooperation and work toward resolving their long-running border dispute. The rapprochement comes as both countries face pressure from steep US tariffs. “Modi and Xi used all the diplomatic words available to signal a new found commitment, partially motivated by high Trump tariffs on both,” said Wendy Cutler, senior vice president at Asia Society Policy Institute. Still, India remains wary of a flood of cheap Chinese imports threatening its domestic industries and border disputes are far from resolved. China’s good relationship with Pakistan also remains a sticking point in the New Delhi-Beijing relationship. “Improving trade ties won’t be easy,” Cutler said, noting New Delhi was likely to keep restrictive measures in place after a series of anti-dumping cases against Chinese imports.
The summit captured Xi, Modi and Putin holding hands and sharing a laugh, worrying Trump as the US accused India and China of fueling Moscow’s war against Ukraine. India — long courted by Washington as a counterweight to China — has instead faced Trump’s steep tariffs, while the Kremlin brushed aside US peace efforts in Ukraine and Beijing continued sparring with Washington over trade, technology and geopolitical issues. The symbolism of the three leaders together projected China as an alternative to the US as a partner. Trump is “breathing new life” into the summit, giving China an opportunity to frame its diplomacy as more dependable than Washington’s, said Jeremy Chan of Eurasia Group. Modi told Putin that India and Russia stood side by side even in difficult times after Putin called him a “dear friend,” describing ties as “friendly and trusting.” India used this to signal Washington it has strategic options in both Beijing and Moscow. For Russia, the SCO also remains one of the few international platforms where Putin is not on the defensive, underscoring Moscow’s enduring ties with influential Asian partners despite Western sanctions. The SCO members pledged to cooperate on reducing risks and improving the security and accountability of AI for the benefits of humanity, while committing to implement a roadmap for joint AI cooperation and development. “Beijing has leaned into ‘open-source [large-language-models]’ as productivity infrastructure,” said Paul Triolo, a partner at DGA Group, adding that the challenge lies in “how or if to regulate the use of open source models across borders.”
Some member states agreed to set up an SCO development bank, what would be a significant step in the bloc’s long-standing goal of establishing an alternative payment system that reduces reliance on the US dollar. China is the largest shareholder of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that was launched in 2014 to fund projects in developing nations as a direct challenge to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Beijing also pledged 2 billion Yuan ($280 million) in free aid for member states this year and another 10 billion Yuan ($1.4 billion) in loans to the organization’s members over the next three years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a clear message to Ukraine and its European allies: “Moscow can keep going, because we have powerful friends.” Standing shoulder to shoulder in China with Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, Masoud Pezeshkian and Kim Jong Un, Putin showed the support enabling him to wage war on Ukraine for as long as he wants. More than three years into a conflict he once thought would be a quick takeover, Russia relies on Chinese and Indian money, Iranian weapons and, to a lesser extent, North Korean manpower. Yet the summit and China’s military parade signaled more than the war, underscoring the East-West rift, the Cold War’s continuation in a new form, and SCO states’ commitment to challenge dollar dominance by adopting local currency payments, as already pursued by BRICS.
—The writer is Former Civil Servant and Consultant (ILO) & International Organisation for Migration and author of seven books.
