Putin, Modi and Xi Jinping To Meet at Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit

Since the Russia-Ukraine war began, India has become a major buyer of Russian oil, increasing tensions with Washington. Modi also remarked on “steady progress” in improving relations with China after meeting its top diplomat in August, when he noted “respect for each other’s interests and sensitiveness.”

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India’s SCO entry potentially challenges Russian and Chinese domination over the association. Despite their trade ties, India is unlikely to offer meaningful support for Russia’s war in Ukraine or China’s claims to Taiwan and the South China Sea.

India has also long sought a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council but has received only tepid backing from China and Russia, possibly to prevent their influence with the West from being diluted. Still, New Delhi stands to lose little as long as Washington continues to broadcast uncertainty with its foreign trade.

India has said it will not sign a joint statement with the SCO because it sees a pro-Pakistan stance in the organisation’s omission of a mention of a deadly terror attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22.

Beijing has given few hints of what solid progress it expects from the summit, which is in keeping with the secretive nature of its diplomacy and politics.

Guided by the “Shanghai Spirit”

The official Xinhua News Agency last week called the gathering the “largest-ever SCO summit in history” and said it would be used for “charting the blueprint for the bloc’s next decade of development.”

The leaders of about a dozen other countries are joining the summit as SCO dialogue partners or guests, including Egypt, Nepal and several Southeast Asian nations.

Xinhua spoke of the organisation being guided by the “Shanghai Spirit, which features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilisations and pursuit of common development.”

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Citing growing trade and rail freight between China and other members, observer states and dialogue partners, Beijing seems eager to emphasise the bloc’s economic benefits.

Xinhua noted documents would be signed including a notice of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, which the ruling Communist Party will mark with a military parade in central Beijing on September 3.

University of Chicago political scientist Dali Yang said the SCO is one of the most prominent regional organisations China has cofounded.

“For China’s leadership, there is a lot of emphasis on maintaining existing relations in the international arena, even though the SCO has not been effective in dealing with the major challenges of today,” Yang said.

The summit comes just days before a massive military parade through Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of WWII attended by Xi and other leaders, including a rare showing by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Yang said.

The SCO seems to show a desire to move from a dialogue platform to a “full-fledged mechanism of practical cooperation that brings tangible results to the citizens of the member states,” said June Teufel Dreyer, a University of Miami expert on Chinese politics. Yet the questions remain, “to what end and how?”

For Xi, “presiding over the gathering in Tianjin should net him some favourable publicity and possibly further his image as leader of a new global world order,” Dreyer said.

AP