Bloomberg :
When Xi Jinping gathers his closest international allies for one of the landmark summits of his more than a decade-long rule, many will be seeking reassurance after emerging scarred from conflicts.
They may not get it: the security-focused bloc co-founded by China has been all but absent when its partners needed it most.
Instead, China’s president is likely to dwell more on what’s ahead for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation at a time when Donald Trump tries to hem in Beijing’s ambitions and upends US alliances with the likes of India. The spotlight will especially fall on any joint statement issued by the grouping and the tone it adopts on the US, along with the series of bilateral meetings expected to take place on the sidelines.
At the huddle that kicks off on Sunday, Xi is preparing to approve the SCO’s development strategy for the next decade and set out his vision for global governance, with the political leaders of Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran seated together with him at the same table for the first time in years.
Some guests including Russian President Vladimir Putin will then follow Xi to Beijing to attend a military parade on Sept. 3. “China is putting in a lot of effort and using its influence to make it one of the biggest SCO summits ever,” said Dylan Loh, assistant professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“This is also a statement of intent and demonstration of China’s growing profile and power particularly in the context of US-China competition and suggestions of domestic economic malaise.”
The event will be the bloc’s largest ever, now that Belarus is its 10th full member. The lineup of global leaders headed to the Chinese port city of Tianjin including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif suggests the potential is there to break new ground. The summit offers Putin a chance to talk with Xi and Modi directly about the outcome of his meeting in Alaska with Trump and the prospect of reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
It’s a rare opportunity for Putin to meet with his two most important energy partners, especially after Trump doubled US tariffs on India as punishment for New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil. Together, China and India have purchased more than half of Russia’s energy exports since the start of 2023, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
Chinese purchases are unlikely to change anytime soon, but Moscow faces a trickier predicament when it comes to gas.
Putin is likely to broach the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline once again when he meets with Xi. The project would take gas from the fields that formerly served Europe and supply China instead. But despite many years of discussion, Beijing hasn’t been willing to commit.
