BEIJING: China’s President Xi Jinping will host world leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and India’s Narendra Modi, from Sunday for a summit before a huge military parade as he seeks to showcase a non-Western style of regional collaboration.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit will be held on Sunday and Monday, days before the military parade in nearby Beijing to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, which North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will attend.
China and Russia have used the organisation — sometimes touted as a counter to the Nato military alliance — to deepen ties with Central Asian states.
As China’s claim over Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have seen them clash with the US and Europe, analysts say the SCO is one forum where they are trying to win influence.
Hosting so many leaders gives Beijing a chance to “demonstrate convening power”, said Lizzi Lee from the Asia Society. But substantial outcomes are not expected, she added, as the summit would be more about optics and agenda-setting.
“The SCO runs by consensus, and when you have countries deeply divided on core issues, like Pakistan and India, or China and India, in the same room, that naturally limits ambition,” Lee said.
Beijing wants to show it can bring diverse leaders together and reinforce the idea that global governance is “not Western-dominated”, she added.
Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin said the summit would bring stability in the face of “hegemonism and power politics”, a veiled reference to the United States.
Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2025