Category: 2. World

IT was the largest gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, with leaders of Eurasian nations seeking to establish a more just and equitable multilateral system as an alternative to a crumbling West-dominated world order. The recently concluded SCO summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin brought together countries with competing interests in times of great turmoil in global governance.

Initially formed as a security cooperation group over two decades ago, the SCO has evolved into a formidable forum for trade and economic development. Described as ‘SCO-Plus’, the conference was attended by more than 20 heads of state and government, as well as leaders of international organisations. The Tianjin summit reinforced China’s leading role in the emerging multilateral international order.

In his speech, President Xi Jinping called for “equal and orderly multipolarisation”. The Chinese leader stressed the need for the organisation to work towards a “more just and equitable global governance system” and urged regional leaders to shun a “Cold War mentality”.

It was pointed out that member states faced complicated security and development challenges in a “chaotic and intertwined” world. These remarks set the tone of the conference. His speech indicated China’s emphasis on geo-economics and connectivity.

As per media reports, “The organisation covers approximately 24 per cent of global land area and 42pc of the world’s population, with member states accounting for roughly one-quarter of global GDP and trade increasing nearly 100-fold in two decades.” China’s trade with SCO members, observers and dialogue partners reportedly totalled $890 billion in 2024. Donald Trump’s reckless trade war has massively increased SCO’s potential, as the bloc provides an alternative to America’s economic domination.

The Tianjin summit reinforced China’s leading role in the emerging international order.

The conference also brought the leaders of Pakistan and India face-to-face for the first time after their four-day conflict in May that had pushed the two nuclear-armed nations close to a wider conflagration. The tension was palpable with the two leaders not even shaking hands, let alone any possibility of meeting on the sidelines. Pakistan’s offer for a dialogue on all disputed matters between the two countries had gone unheeded by the Indian prime minister.

Without taking names, both leaders accused the other of perpetrating terrorist activities in their respective countries. New Delhi has hardened its position and does not want any bilateral talks with Islamabad after it was humiliated during its military action against Pakistan. India’s belligerence remains the main source of tension, hampering regional economic and trade cooperation. There seems to be no change in its stance despite foreign policy setbacks.

However, the conference provided an opportunity for China and India to ease the tensions in their relationship. It was the first trip of the Indian prime minister to China in seven years. Relations between the world’s two most populous nations remained strained after bloody border clashes in 2019 following India’s unilateral and illegal decision to annex the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir and declare Ladakh as federal territory.

Although a ceasefire has been in place for some time, other issues have continued to strain their relationship. India has been part of a US-led anti-China coalition in the Indo-Pacific region. But the latest dispute with the Trump administration on trade tariffs seems to have forced India to mend fences with China. Interestingly, the 50 per cent tariff on exports to the US had come into force just before the summit. Once America’s so-called strategic ally, India now faces some of the highest tariffs imposed by the US. This factor, together with political reasons, has caused relations to sour between Washington and Delhi.

Although the Chinese and Indian leaders agreed they were not “rivals but partners in development”, unresolved issues remain between them, which can widen the existing trust deficit. These include the border dispute, which the Chinese president indicated should be put aside to focus on improved trade and economic relations.

Interestingly, despite their strained relations over the past years, trade between the two countries in 2024-2025 totalled $118bn, though with India’s trade deficit with China reaching $99.2bn.

The thaw in their relations has already resulted in the resumption of direct flights between the two countries and improved business environment. But China’s strategic relations with Pakistan continue to cast a shadow over any further breakthrough.

The summit also reinforced Russia’s return to the global stage after being ostracised by the West for invading Ukraine. President Putin blamed the West for triggering the war. The Russian president has also been invited to the military parade in Beijing this week to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War (World War II) and the founding of the United Nations. “It is a milestone prompting us to remember the past and create a better future together,” declared President Xi.

The gathering of leaders and observers from across Eurasia reflected the emerging alignment in the shifting sands of regional geopolitics. The bloc represents the emerging power of the Global South, which is challenging the unjust Western international global order.

The Tianjin Declaration, issued after the two-day parleys, reaffirmed the commitment to sustainable international peace and called for joint efforts to counter traditional and new security challenges. While resolving to fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, the conference recognised the leading role of sovereign states and their competent authorities in countering terrorist and extremist threats.

The conference also adopted a 10-year SCO Development Strategy, which “defines the priority tasks and main directions for deepening multifaceted cooperation in the interests of ensuring peace and stability, development and prosperity in the SCO space”.

After the summit concluded, President Xi had a bilateral meeting with Pakistan’s prime minister and his delegation in Beijing, reaffirming the strategic and economic partnership between the two countries. They also agreed to initiate the second phase of CPEC. The SCO provides a great opportunity for Pakistan’s economic development.

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Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2025

BEIJING: China’s President Xi Jinping convened his Russian and North Korean counterparts in Beijing for the first time on Tuesday, a show of solidarity with countries shunned by the West over their role in Europe’s worst war in 80 years.

Xi hosted Vladimir Putin for talks at the Great Hall of the People and then at his personal residence, calling him his “old friend”. A few hours later, Kim Jong Un’s armoured train was spotted by a witness arriving in the Chinese capital. North Korean state media confirmed Kim’s arr­ival, showing his daughter Kim Ju Ae accompanying him.

Ju Ae, whom South Korean intelligence consider her father’s most likely successor, is making her international debut after years of being seen next to Kim at major domestic events. Xi, Putin and Kim are set to take centre stage at a massive military parade on Wed­nesday, where the Chinese president will flaunt his vision for a new global order as US President Don­ald Trump’s “America First” policies strain Western alliances.

Beyond the pomp, analysts are watching whether the trio may signal closer defence relations following a pact signed by Russia and North Korea in June 2024, and a similar alliance between Beijing and Pyongyang, an outcome that may alter the military calculus in the Asia-Pacific region. It would also be a blow for Trump, who has talked up his close relations with all three leaders and touted his peacemaking credentials as Rus­sia’s three-and-a-half-year war with Ukraine has raged on.

Russia signs up new gas pipeline to boost supplies to China

In a thinly veiled swipe at this rival across the Pacific Ocean on Monday, Xi told a summit of more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries: “We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics.” Xi also held talks on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, whose country has been targeted by Trump over its purchases of Russian oil seen as helping finance Putin’s war effort.

Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the summit “performative” and accused China and India, the biggest buyers of Russian crude, of being “bad actors” by fuelling Russia’s war.

As Putin and Xi met, Russia’s Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation signed a deal to increase gas supplies and penned an agreement on a new pipeline that could supply China for 30 years.

Alarm bells

At a time when Trump has set his sights on a Nobel Peace Prize, any new concentration of military power in the East that includes Russia will ring alarm bells for the West.

“Trilateral military exercises between Russia, China and North Korea seem nearly inevitable,” wrote Youngjun Kim, an analyst at the US-based National Bureau of Asian Research, in March, citing how the conflict in Ukraine had pushed Moscow and Pyongyang closer. “Until a few years ago, China and Russia were important partners in imposing international sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and missile tests… (they) are now potential military partners of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during a crisis on the Korean peninsula,” he added, using the diplomatically isolated country’s official name.

The North Korean leader has supplied more than 15,000 troops to support Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2025

AMRITSAR: A thousand villages in India’s Punjab state are marooned by deadly floods, with thousands forced to seek shelter in relief camps, government authorities say.

Flooding across the northwestern state killed at least 29 people and affected over 250,000 last month, with the state’s chief minister calling it “one of the worst flood disasters in decades”.

The region is often dubbed India’s breadbasket, but more than 940 square kilometres (360 square miles) of farmland are flooded, leading to “devastating crop losses”, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PM Modi on Monday assured him of the federal government’s “full support”.

Over 1,000 boats, 30 helicopters deployed to rescue the stranded, supply food

Authorities have said they fear a “huge loss of livestock”, the full extent of which will only be clear when the waters recede, according to a bulletin issued by the state authorities late Monday.

India’s army and disaster teams have carried out vast rescue operations, deploying more than 1,000 boats and 30 helicopters to rescue the stranded or supply food. “The most important thing is to save the lives of people and helpless animals trapped in the water,” Mann said in a statement.

Rivers in the region cross into Pakistan, where floodwater has also engulfed swathes of land.

Floods and landslides are common during the June-September monsoon season in the subcontinent, but experts say climate change, coupled with poorly planned development, is increasing their frequency, severity and impact.

Northwest India has seen rainfall surge by more than a third on average from June to September, according to the national weather department.

In the capital Delhi, relentless rains have swollen the Yamuna river — which breached its danger mark on Tuesday, inundating several areas and creating traffic snarl-ups lasting for hours.

Deadly floods triggered by record-breaking rain also killed dozens in India-held Kashmir last month.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2025