Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join more than 20 world leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, now considered the world’s largest regional grouping by population.
The meeting, scheduled for Sunday and Monday in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, is backed by Beijing and brings together a wide range of leaders and power brokers from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
The SCO was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, initially focusing on regional security and Central Asian issues. Over the past two decades, however, its role has expanded beyond Central Asia to address global concerns.
Analysts note that the grouping has become a crucial component of what Beijing calls its “parallel international governance architecture.” According to Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of the China-Global South Project, the SCO provides China with a platform to project influence and create alternative spaces for dialogue outside the “US-led international system.”
Though the Tianjin summit is expected to be largely symbolic, observers stress that such forums offer valuable opportunities for leaders and bureaucrats to come together, exchange views, and consolidate shared grievances. With United States President Donald Trump’s trade war continuing to disrupt international relations – targeting even Washington’s traditional allies – the SCO offers members an avenue to find common ground.
The guest list underlines the summit’s diversity and complexity. It includes Putin, who remains wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, as well as Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Alongside them are representatives of countries with longstanding rivalries and unresolved tensions: India and Pakistan, India and China, Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as the Central Asian republics that harbor ambivalence toward both China and Russia.
These dynamics highlight the challenges of consensus within the SCO. As Olander observed, “Underneath the happy family photo is a lot of looking over shoulders.” Despite the ceremonial aspects of the gathering, the summit underscores how Beijing is positioning the SCO as a stage for global engagement and a counterweight to Western-dominated frameworks, even as underlying mistrust and regional disputes remain firmly in place.
Defence ministers from countries including China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Russia applaud following a group photo, ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, in June 2025 [Florence Lo/Reuters]
‘Swing states’
The SCO has expanded its membership in recent years to include such political heavyweights as India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus as full members, with Afghanistan and Mongolia joining as observers.
Official “dialogue partners” have also grown to 14 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Qatar, Cambodia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
The summit will also notably feature Southeast Asia, a region that Olander likened to the “swing states” in the great power competition between the US and China.
Five heads of state will attend from the region, including Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim and Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto, as well as ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn.
Observers will be closely watching the dynamics between Chinese President Xi Jinping and India’s Modi, who have not met in seven years, said Claus Soong, an analyst at Germany’s Mercator Institute for China Studies who specialises in China’s global strategy.
India has traditionally been an ally of Washington, but it was hit this week by Trump’s 50 percent tariffs as punishment for its ongoing purchase of Russian oil.
The White House says India’s trade is helping to keep Russia’s economy afloat despite international sanctions, and with it, Russia’s war on Ukraine.
But the shared threat of US tariffs has helped improve relations between New Delhi and Beijing, which had plummeted in 2020 over a deadly skirmish between border forces in the Himalayas.
The two sides reached a deal on their remote frontier in 2024, but their relationship has remained frosty.
Analysts say China sees Trump’s trade war as a chance to ease India away from US-led political and military blocs such as the QUAD, a strategic security forum that includes Japan and Australia in addition to India and the US.
“The key is to look at how China [characterises] its relationship with India after the visit and how the relationship improves between China and India,” Soong told Al Jazeera.
The upcoming SCO summit will mark the first meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping since Putin’s talks with Donald Trump in Alaska on Ukraine. Analysts expect a joint statement stressing multilateralism, security, and economic cooperation, though phrased cautiously to satisfy all members.
China and Russia will likely highlight opposition to “unilateralism,” a veiled critique of the US. September 2 will be key for bilateral meetings before a major Beijing military parade on September 3, commemorating 80 years since World War II’s end in Asia. Leaders including Kim Jong Un and Aleksandar Vucic will attend, boosting China’s global standing. — With AJ Inputs