SCO Tianjin summit rewrites global diplomacy

By Nikola Mikovic

Lead: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Tianjin summit proved that China, India and other Eurasian nations, despite their differences, can work together for regional stability and shared prosperity.

As the world faces growing conflicts and widening economic disparities, leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held a summit in Tianjin, China, proposing win-win cooperation among countries regardless of their size, strength or wealth. The event also provided Beijing a platform to present itself as a stabilizing force advocating for a more balanced, multipolar world order.

Since its founding in 2001, the SCO and its member states have increasingly sought greater representation on the global stage, in line with their expanding international roles. This push reflects a desire to reshape global governance, particularly in response to the longstanding dominance of Western institutions, including those led by the United States.

The West, however, is unlikely to easily give up its dominance in the global arena, potentially pushing the SCO to build an alternative international platform focused on artificial intelligence, climate cooperation and trade. However, that could be easier said than done, given that the SCO does not function as a bloc with clear ideological alignment but as a diverse grouping of Eurasian countries.

The organization appears to follow the Confucian concept of "harmony but not uniformity," which emphasizes celebrating diversity and differences rather than enforcing sameness. But could that be the SCO's advantage rather than weakness?

"The SCO has developed into a heavyweight international organization, recognized not only in the region but also globally," Tajik President Emomali Rahmon stressed before the summit.

Despite past tensions among member states, this year's SCO summit showcased the organization's capacity to manage disputes through sustained dialogue. Nowhere was this more evident than in the bilateral meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Following the talks held on the sidelines of the summit, the two leaders agreed on the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility in border areas. They reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation based on mutual respect, common interests, and sensitivity to each other's concerns.

"China and India should become good-neighborly friends and partners that help each other succeed. A 'cooperative pas de deux of the dragon and the elephant' should be the right choice for the two countries ," Xi said on Aug. 31.

Both leaders emphasized that border disputes should not define the overall relationship. Xi told his Indian counterpart that China and India are "partners, not rivals, and that the two countries are each other's development opportunities rather than threats."

A month before the summit, India decided to resume issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens, a clear step toward easing bilateral tensions and encouraging people-to-people exchanges. Moreover, the very fact that China and India had a robust trading relationship in 2023, with bilateral trade reaching a record $136.2 billion, suggests significant room for cooperation and mutual benefit despite unresolved issues.

Modi's first visit to China since 2018 has shown that China and India, as ancient civilizations, can work together as good neighbors to benefit their peoples.

Beyond China and India, the SCO comprises Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, with 17 partners. Their leaders were in Tianjin from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1, making the event the largest in the organization's history.

According to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the SCO has now become "an organization that is unbreakable, and that cannot be crushed."

"Now the world's center of gravity of influence is quietly and steadily shifting toward the SCO," the Belarusian leader stressed, pointing out that 75% of his country's total trade is with SCO members, including 85% of Belarus' exports.

On the other hand, China's trade with SCO members and partners reached a record $890 billion in 2024, or 14.4% of its total foreign trade. The Tianjin summit included a series of bilateral meetings between SCO leaders, which could pave the way for even deeper economic cooperation and expanded regional trade ties.

The Chinese leader said on Sep. 1 that the SCO has grown into the world's largest regional organization, with 26 participating countries, cooperation in more than 50 fields, and a combined economic output of nearly $30 trillion. It should come as no surprise, then, that Armenia and Azerbaijan both seek SCO membership.

Although Trump repeatedly claimed that he "stopped the India-Pakistan war from going nuclear," it was China that successfully brought the leaders of the two rival nations to a large-scale conference, where they signed a mutually acceptable declaration — something that did not happen during the SCO defense ministers meeting in June. This move, therefore, marks a diplomatic victory for Beijing.

Finally, the viral video of Xi, Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin chatting and laughing on the second day of the SCO summit shows that the dragon, elephant and bear can come together. This demonstrates the potential for cooperation among Eurasia's most influential countries.

Nikola Mikovic is a Serbia-based freelance journalist and political analyst.