During an India-hosted virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance co-founded by Russia and China, on July 4th, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to the heads of the other member states (China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan).
For his first appearance on the world stage in the wake of Wagner PMC chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted uprising almost two weeks ago, it was incumbent on Russian President Vladimir Putin to project an image of political stability and strength to Russia’s partners and allies.
In his short address, the Russian leader stated that his people were “more consolidated than ever,” as the “unity and high responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland was clearly demonstrated by the Russian political circles and the whole of society in uniting against the attempted armed rebellion.”
Putin went on to express gratitude to his fellow SCO members who had “expressed their support for the Russian leadership in defending the constitutional order, lives and security of its citizens.”
He further stated that Russia is and will continue to resist “external pressure, sanctions and provocations” coming from the West since Moscow launched what it continues to call its special military operation in Ukraine.
Russia views countries like China, India, and Iran—highly controversially, now the SCO’s ninth and newest member—as key partners in confronting the U.S. and replacing its system, labeled by Moscow as a ‘unipolar world order,’ with a multipolar one.
Taken together, the SCO accounts for 40% of the world’s population and over 20% of global GDP. With Iran’s entrance, it controls around 20% of the world’s oil reserves.
In addition, Belarus, Russia’s closest ally, signed a memorandum of obligations which, if met, would make it the bloc’s tenth member in 2024, turning it into a bigger player on the world stage while countering Western influence in the Eurasian region.
To illustrate the trend, in his address Putin said that over 80% of trade between China and Russia was in roubles and yuan already, as he urged other SCO members to do likewise, which in turn would circumvent the West’s sanctions.
India: Independent foreign policy
On Tuesday, New Delhi said the virtual format “in no way signifies, hints, insinuates the dilution in the objectives that we are trying to see of the SCO summit.”
However, as pointed out by CNN, the host country India might have taken care to downplay this year’s summit by keeping it virtual.
Only last month, Prime Minister Modi paid a state visit to the U.S. to strengthen ties between the two nations—progress that New Delhi probably did not want to endanger by being seen welcoming Putin at the event.
While the West likes to turn India into a regional actor to counterbalance China’s power and influence, New Delhi has not publicly stated its desire to assume that role, as it instead seeks a foreign policy independent from either of its global partners.
Undergirding that principle of non-confrontation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “We do not see the SCO as an extended neighborhood, but rather as an extended family.”
Without directly referring to the war in Ukraine, Modi added that “security, economic development, connectivity, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and environmental protection are the pillars of our vision for SCO.”
At last year’s SCO summit in Samarkand, Modi did reserve criticism for Putin, when he told him that “today’s era is not an era of war,” a comment which prompted a surprised Putin to respond he would “do everything to stop this [war in Ukraine] as soon as possible.”
China: ‘Win-win cooperation’
As reported by Xinhua, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted that the world was “undergoing both transformation and upheaval,” and that “changes unseen in a century are unfolding at a faster pace.”
He went on to say that “human society faces unprecedented challenges. Unity or split, peace or conflict, cooperation or confrontation—these are the questions raised again by the times.”
China’s answer to this was to make the “people’s wish for a happy life” its goal, and that “peace, development and win-win cooperation are the unstoppable trends of the times.”
Xi continued to say that SCO member states should keep to the right direction and enhance solidarity and mutual trust. “Facts have shown that as long as we bear in mind the larger picture, shoulder our responsibilities and remain undisturbed by all sorts of distractions, we will be able to protect and promote the security and development interests of our member states,” he said.
Member states should therefore “keep in mind the overall and long-term interests of the region, and make the foreign policies independently so that the future of their development is held firmly in their own hands,” he added in what was a not-subtle jab at the West.
Following the three hour-long summit, a joint declaration of some 5,000 words was released, which emphasized the need for a boost in trade, connectivity and co-operation in tech, among others.
