Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin, China on September 1, 2025
Vladimir Smirnov / Sputnik / POOL / AFP
Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation highlighted efforts to strengthen non-Western partnerships and “address global challenges.”
Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin took swipes at the West during a gathering of Eurasian leaders at a showpiece summit on Monday, September.
Aimed at putting Beijing front and centre of regional relations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which includes China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus, is promoted as a non-Western model of cooperation and positions itself as an alternative to traditional alliances.
Xi told the SCO leaders, including Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that the global international situation was becoming more “chaotic and intertwined.”
The Chinese leader also slammed “bullying behaviour” from certain countries—a clear reference to the United States.
“The security and development tasks facing member states have become even more challenging,” he added, as part of his address in the northern port city of Tianjin.
“Looking to the future, with the world undergoing turbulence and transformation, we must continue to follow the Shanghai spirit … and better perform the functions of the organisation,” Xi declared.
In his speech, Putin defended Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, blaming the West for contributing to the origins of the three-and-a-half-year conflict, which has caused significant casualties and damage in eastern Ukraine.
This crisis wasn’t triggered by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but was a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West. The second reason for the crisis is the West’s constant attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO.
