The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, scheduled to be held in Tianjin, China, from August 31 to September 1, is poised to be one of the most consequential gatherings in recent years, underlining shifting geopolitical currents and the growing solidarity of the Global South in a world shaped by U.S.-China rivalry and ongoing Russian-Western tensions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to host more than 20 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marking a powerful visual display of non-Western realignment and alternative multilateral leadership at a time of heightened international uncertainty.

For India, the summit carries special importance given that it will mark Prime Minister Modi’s first official visit to China in more than seven years. That gap has been driven largely by deteriorating Sino-Indian relations following the deadly 2020 Galwan Valley clashes, alongside broader strategic competition.

However, the summit provides Modi and Xi with a platform to further consolidate the thaw in bilateral ties that began in recent months, with both sides already signalling readiness to announce incremental but significant de-escalatory measures—ranging from troop withdrawals along the border to the easing of trade and visa restrictions.

Such moves would indicate both Beijing and New Delhi’s interest in putting frictions behind them, particularly as India navigates renewed tariff pressure from the Trump administration and as China looks to project leadership in Global South politics.

From Russia’s perspective, the Tianjin summit represents another diplomatic success during a period of heavy Western sanctions and ongoing isolation in Europe. President Putin’s participation—and his slated extended stay for a World War II military parade in Beijing immediately after the summit—underscores Moscow’s strategic pivot further eastward.

The Kremlin has been leveraging platforms like the SCO and BRICS to affirm its enduring influence beyond the West and to showcase solidarity with partners that do not share Washington and Brussels’ adversarial stances. Russian diplomats in New Delhi have emphasised the importance of trilateral engagement with India and China, hoping to draw the latter two into a closer framework of cooperation that balances Western alignments.

For Xi Jinping, the optics of this SCO summit are arguably as important as the policy content. Analysts argue that Beijing views the event as an opportunity to present a “post-American-led order,” assembling a prominent coalition of countries from Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. 

The SCO has grown substantially since its founding in 2001, expanding from six Eurasian members to ten permanent members alongside sixteen observer and dialogue partners. Its remit has also broadened from its original counter-terrorism and security focus to cover military collaboration, economic coordination, and more recently, climate and technology initiatives.

Still, observers note the implementation of SCO cooperative goals remains “fuzzy” and often hampered by internal contradictions, such as the antagonistic relationship between India and Pakistan. The inability of SCO defence ministers earlier in June to release a joint statement, after New Delhi objected to omissions related to terrorism in Kashmir, exemplifies the persistent challenges of aligning diverse member interests.

Despite these hurdles, the summit has strong symbolic value. Experts emphasise that for China, the SCO is less about concrete policy agreements and far more about convening power—the ability to showcase alternatives to Western-led institutions and to build Global South narratives around multipolarity.

The fact that leaders of India, Russia, Central Asian republics, and Middle Eastern partners are uniting under China’s chairmanship demonstrates Beijing’s capacity to bring together states that otherwise face diverging security and economic priorities. For India, participation reinforces its balancing act between maintaining ties with the West while also avoiding alienation from Beijing and Moscow; for Russia, it highlights its resilience; and for China, it strengthens the claim that Washington’s attempts at containment through alliances have not truly succeeded.

The SCO summit in Tianjin, therefore, is less likely to result in landmark declarations or deep institutional realignments than it is to serve as a stage for optics and political messaging. For Prime Minister Modi, it reflects a recalibration of India’s foreign policy priorities in light of shifting U.S. trade relations and the desire to stabilise its contested northern borders.

For Xi Jinping, it showcases leadership in forging Global South solidarity and strengthening Sino-Russian-Indian dialogue. And for Vladimir Putin, it continues his strategic defiance of Western isolation.

With more than 20 world leaders convening, the SCO summit stands as the largest meeting of its kind since the bloc’s founding, and even in the absence of binding outcomes, its symbolic resonance will reverberate as part of the ongoing contest over the international order’s future direction.

Based On Reuters Report