Shabib Ali
“Xi Jinping’s push for a multipolar global order at the historic 2025 Tianjin SCO Summit, critiquing U.S. hegemony while advocating fairness and multilateralism.”
The 2025 Tianjin SCO Summit, held from August 31 to September 1 in Tianjin, China, was the 25th Heads of State Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), marking its largest gathering yet. Chinese President Xi Jinping used the summit to promote a new world order, emphasizing fairness, justice, and opposition to “confrontation and bullying,” taking indirect criticism against the United States. Leaders from 20 countries, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi, and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, discussed critical issues like artificial intelligence, infrastructure, and the creation of an SCO Development Bank to foster cooperation between member countries. Xi described global governance as having reached a “new crossroads,” a shift from U.S dominated unilateralism to a multipolar system prioritizing multilateral cooperation. The SCO is no longer just a group focused on security, it is becoming a bigger platform for countries in the Middle East and Asia signals its ambition to challenge Western-led institutions like NATO. The Tianjin Declaration summit stressed a vision for a “just and balanced” global order, positioning the SCO as a counterweight to Western hegemony
A grand military parade in Beijing, attended by Putin, Kim, and Iran’s leadership to mark 80 years since the end of the World War 2, showcased advanced weaponry, including intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. This display was a deliberate message from China, Russia, and North Korea, cementing an alliance to counter Western sanctions and influence, aiming to establish a multipolar world where the global south holds greater power and representation. The parade showed a world “independent away itself from the influence of America,” with China projecting itself as a global leader through military and technological strength. Russia, China, and North Korea are forming an alliance to challenge Western dominance, using the SCO summit to bring together the global south and bypass Western system. The summit highlighted the first joint appearance of Xi, Putin, and Kim, who exchanged words and laughter in a group, showing their unity against Western efforts to cut off Russia over Ukraine, China over Taiwan, and North Korea to boost its nuclear power. This alliance shows a strategic challenge to NATO, especially as U.S. President Donald Trump’s hard relations with NATO weaken Western unity.
“India’s strategic engagement at the 2025 Tianjin SCO Summit, led by Modi, balanced warming ties with China and Russia against U.S. relations, navigating tariffs and regional interests while upholding non-alignment.”
India’s involvement, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was very important, marking his first meeting with Xi since 2018 and showing a warming in India-China relations despite border disagreements. Trump’s 50% tariffs on Indian and Chinese goods pushed India closer to the SCO, with Modi calling it a “guiding light towards multilateralism and a fair world order.” India’s policy of non-alignment allowed it to build stronger connections with Central Asian countries, Russia, and China through the SCO while keeping good relations with the U.S. and the Quad group to balance China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region which is not strength at this movement. One of the SCO rule is non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries but remain silent on the issue of Taiwan and Ukraine. India’s participation shows it is carefully balancing its interests, dealing with regional problems without fully agreeing with the SCO’s anti-Western views. Trump’s isolationist policies, have created opportunities for Xi to attract partners like India, enhancing the SCO’s summit as a platform for the global south, which represents 80% of the world’s population
China’s President Xi Jinping used his strong control at home, anti-corruption efforts and influence on Asia, Middle East, and Latin America to present himself as the leader of the global south , , promoting initiatives like the SCO Development Bank and China’s advancements in AI and 6G to dominate future industries, Putin efforts to counter Western isolation, used the SCO to make new alliance and push for a new world system, similar to the old Soviet Union’s influence, to show that Russia still matters even with heavy sanctions, Kim Jong-un emerging from isolation, aimed to secure economic support from China and Russia, used his military aid to Russia in Ukraine to get fund North Korea’s nuclear program and assert his global importance signaling to the U.S. that he is not isolated. Together, these three nuclear-armed leaders are forging an alliance to challenge the U.S.-led global order, with the SCO summit strengthening their collective influence. The SCO’s growing importance, alongside BRICS, could reshape global institutions like the UN and WTO, could potentially divide the world into a U.S led global north and a China led global south. As geopolitical shifts occur once in a century, the 2025 summit marks a pivotal moment where the global south demands greater representation, challenging the U.S centric governance system.
The writer is the student of International Relations at National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.