Shanghai grouping commits to a multipolar world order
The optics of last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit at Tianjin in China captured as much world attention as the rhetoric. The most striking picture was that of the Russian, Chinese and Indian leaders smiling warmly and chatting amicably among themselves. An observer described them as signaling “a unified front in pursuit of multipolarity, economic resilience and collective security … a strategic recalibration of international order.”
Another important event was the bilateral meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit, which had brought the former on his first visit to China in seven years. Xi noted the “historic responsibility” of the two countries “to bring about a multipolar world order … and to make our true contributions to peace and prosperity in Asia and around the world.”
Modi in turn affirmed that they were “partners rather than rivals” and that the interests of the 2.8 billion people of the two countries “are tied to our cooperation.”
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization emerged from a platform set up in the 1990s to address border issues between China, Russia and the Central Asian republics that had emerged from the breakup of the Soviet Union. From 2001, it began to meet at summit level. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017, while Iran and Belarus joined in 2024. The organization also has 16 “partner states” from the South Caucasus, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Together, its members make up 80 percent of the Eurasian landmass, 40 percent of the world’s population and 23 percent of global gross domestic product. The organization’s functioning is avowedly shaped by the “Shanghai spirit,” a commitment to mutual respect, reciprocal benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations, and the pursuit of joint development.
The Tianjin summit was the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organization conclave. It took place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 against the backdrop of several members’ deteriorating ties with the US. In particular, on Aug. 27, the US imposed penal tariffs on Indian exports, bringing the total to 50 percent, effectively making most Indian exports, valued at several billion dollars, uneconomical. Russia is largely isolated in Europe and already subject to Western sanctions due to the Ukraine war, while China is already subjected to US hostility and is expected to face crippling tariffs shortly. The organization is therefore viewed as an entity that stands in opposition to the US-led world order.
At the inauguration of the summit, Xi described the grouping as a force promoting “a new type of international relations.” Modi described its three pillars as: security, connectivity, and opportunity for cooperation and reform. He advocated a role for the organization in promoting multilateralism and an “inclusive world order.”
The summit has clearly injected new vigor, a sense of purpose and contemporary resonance into the organization.
Talmiz Ahmad
The Tianjin Declaration that emerged from the summit has been described by an Indian diplomat as linking “vision with muscle.” It carries forward the ideas of earlier summits, while imbuing them with clarity, drive and, where required, institutional support.
On economic cooperation, it supported the idea of a “Greater Eurasian Partnership,” the setting up of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization development bank and greater use of national currencies in settlements between members. China has pledged funding through grants of $280 million for 100 “small and beautiful” projects and $1.4 billion as loans to members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Interbank Consortium.
India’s theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future” at the G20 summit in New Delhi in 2023 was included in the Tianjin Declaration as part of the common vision, presented by China, of “building a community with a shared future for humanity.” These visions will shape a new “Initiative on World Unity for a Just Peace, Harmony and Development.”
The Tianjin summit has clearly injected new vigor, a sense of purpose and contemporary resonance into the 25-year-old organization by pulling it out of the narrow confines of Eurasia and placing it on the world stage. This has been made possible by the obvious camaraderie between the leaders of India, China and Russia, referred to by observers as a “new troika axis” that poses an effective challenge to Western hegemony over world affairs and backs its replacement by a multipolar global order.
This is not a mere tactical and short-term response to the impulsiveness and excesses of the US president. It is a carefully shaped strategic approach by the three principal players, who understand that a new world order can only emerge if they operate in tandem and withstand the pressures of Western divide-and-rule policies that have proven so detrimental to the interests of the Global South in the past.
There are important challenges that the three states still need to address. The most important among them are Sino-Indian divisions relating to the border and rivalries in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, along with possible Sino-Russian competition in Central Asia.
The Russia-India-China alignment, which dates back to 2006 but has not been functional since 2020, can offer a useful platform to ensure that these issues do not evolve into confrontations and conflicts. Only then will the Shanghai Cooperation Organization effectively oppose “hegemonism and power politics,” as demanded by Xi, and achieve Modi’s vision of “a multipolar world and a multipolar Asia.”
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Talmiz Ahmad is a former Indian diplomat.
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