China’s Xi Jinping urged resistance to “cold war mentality” and “bullying” while Russia’s Vladimir Putin blamed the west for the Ukraine war during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. According to the Guardian, the meeting gathered leaders from Eurasian member states and partners, including India’s Narendra Modi.
Xi calls for ‘true multilateralism’
In a speech, Xi said the “security and development tasks facing member states have become even more challenging” and called on attendees to “oppose cold war mentality, bloc confrontation, and bullying.” He urged support for the international system with the United Nations at its core and for the multilateral trading system centered on the World Trade Organization.
Xi praised the SCO’s growth as a new model of “true multilateralism,” and encouraged members to leverage their “mega-scale markets” to boost trade and investment. He announced that China would provide 2bn yuan of free aid to member states this year and extend 10bn yuan in loans to an SCO banking consortium, the Guardian reported.
Putin’s claims and shifting regional dynamics
Ukraine war narrative and India-China thaw
Putin told delegates the conflict in Ukraine was “a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the west,” and cited “the west’s constant attempts to drag Ukraine into Nato” as another reason for the crisis. Russia’s three-and-a-half year war has killed tens of thousands of people and devastated parts of eastern Ukraine, the Guardian noted.
The summit also highlighted evolving ties among attendees. Modi’s presence marked his first visit to China in seven years, amid previously strained relations over the Himalayan border, trade, and China’s ties with Pakistan. The Guardian reported that the meeting came five days after Washington imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods due to Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.
State media cited Xi as saying China-India relations could be “stable and far-reaching” if both sides saw each other as partners, and live footage showed Xi, Putin, and Modi conversing alongside translators. Putin praised efforts by China and India “aimed at facilitating the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis.”
Many dignitaries are expected in Beijing for a military parade marking 80 years since the end of the second world war, with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un among those attending. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said the summit issued a statement urging the international community to uphold the “correct” perspective on the conflict and noted SCO members had fought side by side during that war, the Guardian reported.
