'Powerful optics': China's Xi to welcome Putin, Modi in grand show of solidarity
By Laurie Chen
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir
Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a family photo
ceremony prior to the BRICS Summit plenary session in Kazan,
Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. Alexander
Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase
BEIJING, Aug 26 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping will gather more
than 20 world leaders at a regional security forum in China next
week in a powerful show of Global South solidarity in the age of
Donald Trump while also helping sanctions-hit Russia pull off
another diplomatic coup.
Aside from Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders from Central
Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia have been
invited to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit,
to be held in the northern port city of Tianjin from August 31 to
September 1.
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The summit will feature Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to China in more than seven years as the two neighbours
work on further defusing tensions roiled by deadly border clashes
in 2020.
Modi last shared the same stage with Xi and Putin at last year's
BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, even as Western leaders turned
their backs on the Russian leader amid the war in Ukraine.
Russian embassy officials in New Delhi last week said Moscow
hopes trilateral talks with China and India will take place soon.
"Xi will want to use the summit as an opportunity to showcase
what a post-American-led international order begins to look like
and that all White House efforts since January to counter China,
Iran, Russia, and now India have not had the intended effect," said Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of The China-Global South Project, a research agency.
"Just look at how much BRICS has rattled (U.S. President) Donald Trump, which is precisely what these groups are designed to do."
This year's summit will be the largest since the SCO was founded
in 2001, a Chinese foreign ministry official said last week, calling
the bloc an "important force in building a new type of international
relations".
The security-focused bloc, which began as a group of six
Eurasian nations, has expanded to 10 permanent members and
ddialogue and observer countries in recent years. Its remit has
also enlarged from security and counter-terrorism to economic
and military cooperation.
'FUZZY' IMPLEMENTATION
Analysts say expansion is high on the agenda for many countries
, but agree the bloc has not delivered substantial cooperation
outcomes over the years and that China values the optics of
Global South solidarity against the United States at a time of
erratic policymaking and geopolitical flux.
"What is the precise vision that the SCO represents and its
practical implementation are rather fuzzy. It is a platform that has
increasing convening power, which helps in narrative projection,"
said Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific
Research Programme at the Takshashila Institution thinktank in
Bangalore.
"But the SCO's effectiveness in addressing substantial security
issues remains very limited."
Frictions remain between core members India and Pakistan. The
June SCO defence ministers' meeting was unable to adopt a joint
statement after India raised objections, saying it omitted reference
Pakistan.
New Delhi also refused to join the SCO's condemnation of Israeli
attacks on Iran, a member state, earlier in June.
But the recent detente between India and China after five years of
heightened border frictions, as well as renewed tariff pressure on
New Delhi from the Trump administration, are driving
expectations for a positive meeting between Xi and Modi on the
sidelines of the summit.
"It's likely (New Delhi) will swallow their pride and put this year's
SCO problems behind them in a bid to maintain momentum in the
détente with China, which is a key Modi priority right now," said
Olander.
India's priorities at the SCO include trade, connectivity, respect
for sovereignty and territorial integrity, said Indian foreign ministry
official Tanmaya Lal. Modi is also likely to hold bilateral meetings
on the sidelines of the summit.
Analysts expect India and China to announce further incremental border measures such as troop withdrawals, the easing of trade and visa restrictions, cooperation in new fields including climate, and broader government and people-to-people engagement.
Despite the lack of substantive policy announcements expected at the summit, experts warn that the bloc's appeal to Global South countries should not be underestimated.
"This summit is about optics, really powerful optics," added Olander.
Modi is expected to depart from China after the summit, while Putin will stay on for a World War Two military parade in Beijing later in the week for an unusually long spell outside of Russia.
Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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