SCO Summit: China Demonstrates Power and Warns Washington

Let us meet in Tianjin for cooperation where everyone wins! – on every streetlight pole in the Chinese city of Tianjin, the ‘Chinese Manhattan’ where a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held at the beginning of the week, there was a developed sign with exactly those words written in Chinese, Russian, and English. As each world leader arrived, they were greeted by those words from the wide avenues. ‘Everyone wins if we cooperate’ is a free translation of that message which, it seems, was more directed at those who were not at the summit than the other way around. The only question is: who will win and how if they are not part of the bloc?!

The bloc’s cooperation is clear: at the summit, leaders from more than twenty countries gathered, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, who once again proved that stories of his international isolation do not hold water. China and Russia deepened their alliance with this visit and announced new collaborations. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited China, marking his first visit to the country since 2018. Relations between China and India are now showing signs of improvement after the border conflict in 2020.

Also present were Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Iranian counterpart Masud Pezeškijan, as well as UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuli. Representatives from Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus were also there, and another sixteen countries joined in the status of observer or ‘dialogue partners’. The summit took place ahead of a military parade in Beijing marking eighty years since the end of World War II, where North Korean President Kim Jong-un is also expected to make an appearance.

Multilateralism is the main message

The main message of the summit, which was conveyed on the first day from the podium by Chinese President Xi Jinping, was that the correct ‘historical perspective on World War II should be promoted and the Cold War mentality opposed’, which was, evidently, a message directed at the one who was not there, U.S. President Donald Trump. Analysts interpret that another main message of Xi’s speech was a warning against the practice of geopolitical ‘bullying’.

– We should protect the international system based on UN principles and support a multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core. We should advocate for an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, making the global governance system fairer. We should strive for real results and high efficiency. We should continuously promote SCO reform, increase resources, and strengthen capacity building to improve its institutional structure, making its decision-making more scientific and its actions more effective. We should activate the SCO’s Universal Center for Countering Security Challenges and Threats and the Drug Control Center, and establish a development bank for the bloc as soon as possible to ensure stronger foundations for security and economic cooperation among member states – Xi concluded his address with a Chinese proverb: Where there is a will, there are no limits.

‘Small and Smart’ Projects

The ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, China’s largest global infrastructure and connectivity project, was in special focus, and its importance was constantly emphasized, as well as the five pillars on which future bloc cooperation should rest: trade and investment, energy, green industry, digital economy, and artificial intelligence, as well as modernization. Xi once again jabbed at Trump by announcing ‘one hundred small but smart’ livelihood projects and an additional ten billion yuan in development loans, which amounts to 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, as part of efforts to solidify the bloc’s role as a platform for cooperation.

Analysts immediately began to dissect those sentences and messages, highlighting that the main message Beijing wants to convey at the Tianjin summit is ‘a message of power, influence, and unity in a turbulent global climate’. China used this meeting to present itself as a stabilizing force and advocate for multilateralism, positioning itself as a counterbalance to unilateralist U.S. policies, say analysts who also note that aside from clear Chinese rhetoric about a leadership role at the summit, not much more than platitudes will likely be heard, given that countries like Russia, Iran, India, and Pakistan agree on very little, only when global issues are on the table. Internal divisions will blunt the bloc’s ambitions and China’s efforts to offer the world a new bloc, political analysts interpret.

Demonstration of Power

– It is all more of a performance than a serious diplomatic effort that will bring about real change – note media from East Asia, which are considered by many to be more critical than expected.

The SCO bloc was founded in 2001 and has ten full member states: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, and the newest member Belarus. Additionally, it has two observer states and fourteen dialogue partners, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. Together, they encompass nearly half of the world’s population, a quarter of the landmass, and about a quarter of global GDP.

The summit took place just a few days before a major military parade in Beijing marking eighty years since the end of World War II. Many foreign leaders and delegations who attended the meeting stayed on and traveled to the Chinese capital for the parade, where modern equipment such as combat aircraft, missile defense systems, and hypersonic weapons will be showcased.