China’s Xi rolls out the red carpet for Putin and Modi as Trump upends global relations

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🗞️ Driving the news:
Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting a high-profile Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, positioning China as a stabilising force amid global turbulence under U.S. President Donald Trump. Leaders from over 20 countries—including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi, and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian—are attending, as Beijing seeks to showcase itself as an architect of a multipolar world. The summit, coupled with an upcoming military parade in Beijing, underscores China’s efforts to reshape global power dynamics through diplomacy and spectacle.

🔭 The context: Founded in 2001 as a regional security bloc, the SCO has expanded in both membership and ambition
• Now comprising nations that collectively hold around 40% of the global population and significant energy reserves, the group serves as a platform for China and Russia to counterbalance Western influence
• Iran and Belarus recently became full members, reinforcing the bloc’s geopolitical pivot away from the West
• Amid deteriorating U.S. relations with key players like India, the SCO provides Beijing an opportunity to consolidate ties and present an alternative global leadership model

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The expansion and cohesion of the SCO could reshape international governance frameworks, including those affecting climate, energy, and technology policy
• While its rhetoric emphasizes sovereignty and multipolarity, the group’s limited engagement on climate security or humanitarian issues highlights a risk: that emerging coalitions may deprioritize global sustainability goals
• Additionally, if SCO trade integration advances, it could influence carbon-intensive infrastructure development and fossil fuel cooperation—potentially at odds with global decarbonisation efforts

⏭️ What's next: Though concrete policy outcomes are expected to be limited, Beijing will likely use the summit to pursue deeper bilateral and multilateral trade and energy cooperation within the bloc
• The military parade following the summit will further project China’s growing influence
• With the U.S. increasingly isolated in parts of Eurasia, the Xi-Putin-Modi dynamic will be closely watched — especially regarding India’s strategic balancing act
• Long-term, SCO’s trajectory could shift the global centre of gravity toward non-Western alliances, particularly if Trump's foreign policy continues to alienate traditional allies

💬 One quote: “Beijing wants to signal that China is the indispensable convener in Eurasia... not just a participant in regional order-making – it is a primary architect and host.” — Rabia Akhtar, Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research

📈 One stat: SCO member states govern over 40% of the world’s population and control vast energy reserves, making it one of the most geopolitically significant coalitions outside the Western bloc

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