SCO: China's counterweight to the West?
At the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tianjin, host Xi Jinping called for greater unity among members and announced a comprehensive credit programme. Participants included Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will later travel on to Beijing for a military parade, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom Xi also held bilateral talks on Sunday. The European press delivers its analysis.
Global South flexes its muscles
Beijing is profiling itself as a second global power centre, Corriere della Sera observes:
“The presence of Modi, Putin and others such as Turkish President Erdoğan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gave Xi the opportunity to relaunch his idea of an alternative to the Western world order. ... At last night's gala dinner, the Chinese president emphasised the convergence of interests among the countries of the 'global South', arguing that the SCO is ready to shoulder 'great responsibility' and bring 'progress and stability to human civilisation' with a 'new type of international relations'.”
Beijing's alternative world order
Xi Jinping is forging an anti-Western world, writes editor and journalist Vitaly Portnikov in 24tv.ua:
“The Chinese head of state is making it very clear to US President Donald Trump that a very different world exists. A world in which the sanctions and threats from Washington mean nothing. A world in which China - by buying Russian or Iranian oil - is demonstrating that these countries can simply ignore Western sanctions. A world in which, for years now, weapons have been sent to a country to kill civilians in a neighbouring state. In Ukraine we have known for a long time that two political and economic worlds exist. We have known that sanctions cannot work, as it was once assumed in Washington or Brussels that they would.”
Still a fragile mosaic
The contours of the alliance are still hazy, Handelsblatt notes:
“This is not a military alliance that could be countered with sanctions or deterrence, but rather a flexible network of economic incentives, political loyalties and security deals. But this is precisely where its weaknesses lie. The differences between India and China, the Central Asian republics' mistrust of the Kremlin, the conflict between Pakistan and India: the West can use all of this to keep the fault lines in the alliance open. The SCO is still more of a fragile mosaic than a monolithic bloc.”
No love story
The rapprochement between India and China is marked by pragmatism, Helsingin Sanomat explains:
“The thaw began in October 2024, when Xi and Modi agreed to ease visa requirements and trade restrictions. ... This is no love story; it's a pragmatic marriage of convenience in which both sides shamelessly cheat on each other and there is no guarantee of permanence. China is a strategic ally of the Islamic state of Pakistan, and Pakistan is India's arch-enemy. When the nuclear powers India and Pakistan engaged in a week-long war-like conflict in May, behind the scenes at least, China was on Pakistan's side.”
In the small circle of Stalinists
Visão looks ahead to Wednesday's military parade, at which China will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan and which Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un are expected to attend:
“Xi is the wolf in sheep's clothing. He smiles and waves, but he's the new emperor. Putin remains the fickle Cossack - clever, calculating, but with increasingly empty pockets. Kim is the dangerous braggart, propped up by Beijing. Three men, three Stalinists. Or rather, three redux versions of Stalin. ... Xi will not be parading to honour anyone, he'll be flexing his muscles. To spread fear. Among the guests, in Washington, at Nato.”
A stabilising counterbalance
Jutarnji list sums up:
“With the guests who have travelled to the summit and through diplomatic finesse and PR tactics, the Chinese regime wants to send three messages. Firstly, that the challengers to the world order dominated for decades by the West are united in stable agreement, with a relationship based on trust and dialogue - in contrast to the aggressive and unilateral dominance of the West over 'smaller' and 'weaker' countries. Secondly, the presence of Putin and Kim Jong-un [at Wednesday's military parade in Beijing] symbolises the deep political and military cohesion between China, Russia and North Korea: a defence bloc with joint forces that unreservedly opposes Nato's dominance. And thirdly, Xi wants to present (a strong) China as the leading stabilising force in a fragmented and turbulent world.”