September 8, 2025 | Seppo Niemi

SCO Summit 2025

SCO Heads of State meeting was preceded by a meeting of foreign ministers, July 15

Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States discussed the prospects for the organization’s development at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. During the event, the participants exchanged views on the current state and future direction of the SCO development, including in the context of the upcoming SCO summit at the level of heads of state in September 2025 in Tianjin. The Chinese president outlined the priorities of the Chinese chairmanship in the SCO and also assessed the current international situation.

Three interlocked events around August/September will be crucial in shaping the next configuration of the geopolitical chessboard.

August 31 – September 1st. Tianjin, China. The annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001. Initially, it united six states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined the group in 2017, and Iran became a member in 2023. A decision to grant membership to Belarus was made at the SCO summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana last year. This year, China holds the SCO presidency.

Today, the SCO is made up of ten member states: Russia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and two observer countries — Afghanistan and Mongolia — and 14 dialogue partners — Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Kuwait, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Sri Lanka. It is the world’s largest regional cooperation organization by population, geographical coverage and growth potential.

Crucially, Putin, Xi and Modi (his first visit to China in 7 years) will be on the same table, as well as Iran’s Pezeshkian. That’s a compounded BRICS/SCO heavyweight show. This summit may be a turning point for the SCO as much as the summit in Kazan last year was for BRICS.

September 3. The Victory Day Parade in Tiananmen Square, officially celebrating the 80th anniversary of “the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War”. No less than 26 heads of state will be present, including Putin (on a 4-day state visit). They come from all over the Global South, but none from the Global North.

September 3. Vladivostok. The start of the 10th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), the Russian national strategic priority to develop the Arctic and the Russian Far East, including vast tracts of Siberia. Putin addresses the plenary session right after his return from China. Representatives of more than 70 countries will attend the forum. The business program of the forum consists of more than 100 events. In particular, Russia-ASEAN, Russia-India, Russia-China and Russia-Thailand business dialogues will take place

Taken together, these three dates cover the whole spectrum of the Russia-China strategic partnership, the geopolitical and geoeconomic aspects of Eurasia integration and Global South posture and the concerted push by Eurasia actors to accelerate the drive towards a multipolar system of international relations.

SCO Heads of state summit, August 31 – September 1, Tianjin China

China will host the SCO Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 this year. Leaders of over 20 countries including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organizations will attend relevant events. The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO.

Under China’s fifth rotating presidency, Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO and the “SCO Plus” Meeting, deliver keynote speeches and will host a welcome banquet and bilateral events for participating leaders.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Beijing on Saturday morning to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Tianjin.

On the sidelines of the summit, a great number of bilateral meetings between participating countries will be organized and numerous significant agreements will be signed. Russian delegation signed nearly 30 various documents with different countries. Of particular interest will be the meetings between China – India, China – Russia as well as Russia – India.

A number of bilateral meetings between SCO leaders has taken place on the first day of the forum. As the main hall of the SCO Summit’s press center was full, the organizers provided reporters with additional space intended for news conferences. Around 3,000 media representatives from across the globe are covering the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), taking place in China.

The largest amount of information is expected on September 1, when the SCO leaders will approve the Tianjin Summit Declaration, along with other documents and decisions on priority issues.

President Xi Jinping on Sunday called for the SCO to play a bigger role in protecting regional peace and stability, as he held up China as a stable power that will champion the developing world. Hosting dozens of state leaders to a welcome banquet as part of the SCO summit, Xi said that the grouping had become an “important force in promoting the building of a new type of international relations”.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a stunning red welcome upon his arrival in China’s Tianjin for SCO heads of states meeting, and high-level bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping and President Putin among others amid ongoing tensions between India and United States over President Trump-imposed 50% tariffs on India.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 31 arrived in China for a four-day visit. The Russian leader will first attend the two-day summit of SCO in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin. Further, President Putin will travel to Beijing to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Russian President will also attend a massive military parade in Chinese capital commemorating the end of WW2 after Japan’s formal surrender.

When the leaders of China, Russia, India, and several Central Asian states gathered in Tianjin last week for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, the world should have paid far closer attention. Collectively, the countries represented at the table account for more than half of humanity, command immense reserves of natural resources, and increasingly drive a larger share of global GDP. This is not a peripheral coalition but a core pillar of the international system in the making.

Yet much of the Western press treated the gathering as little more than a diplomatic sideshow, overshadowed by domestic political debates or the latest updates from NATO. That was a mistake. What unfolded in Tianjin was not just another regional summit. It was the clearest indication yet that the unipolar world of US primacy, which dominated the decades after the Cold War, is giving way to a new and contested multipolar order.

China hosts largest SCO summit while EU ministers fail to agree on Ukraine

China hosts the largest-ever Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin; EU foreign ministers were unable to reach specific decisions on Ukraine or funding at the Copenhagen summit; and the Iran nuclear deal faces breakdown as the US refuses to resume negotiations. These stories topped Monday’s media headlines worldwide.

The annual summit of the SCO kicked off on August 31 in China, this time in the country’s northern region – Tianjin. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tianjin and he will stay in China for four days and attend the September 2 military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the WWII.

Alongside all the leaders of SCO member states, China, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus, the summit also welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visiting China for the first time in six years, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The 2025 summit is attended by 21 heads of state and also United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The SCO today has developed a broad agenda that covers economic cooperation, coordination on climate change, as well as energy and food security. The issue of new parameters for the Eurasian, financial system is also highly relevant. Depending on which questions member states view as most important, the SCO format can flexibly shift its priorities, moving from security to development issues and vice versa.

The SCO countries rely on certain principles in building international relations. The most important among them is unconditional respect for sovereignty, non-interference in one another’s internal affairs, equality, and mutual respect. All SCO states belong to the non-Western part of the world, and they do not seek to position themselves in opposition to the West but rather to develop a separate agenda of their own. The format is moving increasingly toward economic cooperation, which can also be seen as a consequence of the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump during his second term.

Leaders of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Monday issued a statement on supporting the multilateral trading system during the just-concluded SCO Tianjin Summit. This demonstrates the SCO’s firm determination to maintain the stability of the global trade order, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Tuesday.

New membership applications

More than ten new applications from various countries to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as observers or dialogue partners are currently being reviewed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a SCO Plus expanded meeting.

“Applications from about ten countries to join the SCO as observers or dialogue partners are under consideration,” the Russian leader said. “Each of these applications certainly deserves the most careful and friendly consideration,” he pointed out.

According to the Russian leader, the most important thing is that “those who want to cooperate with the SCO share its values and ideals, pursue an independent policy, and work together to address pressing problems.”

Putin noted that this is not the first time such a large meeting has been held, bringing together the heads of SCO member states, leaders of observer countries and dialogue partners, and guests of the presiding country, as well as heads of major international organizations. “This clearly shows that the international community’s interest in and attention to the SCO’s multifaceted activities continues to grow,” the Russian leader noted.

President Xi Jinping’s key note speech

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that member states should pursue mutual benefit and win-win results. Xi made the remarks while addressing the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO. “We need to better align our development strategies and promote the high-quality implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative,” Xi said. He called on the member states to leverage the strengths of their mega-sized markets and economic complementarity between them and improve trade and investment facilitation.

Looking back at the SCO’s development, “genuine multilateralism” stands out as a defining keyword. 24 years later, the “Shanghai Spirit” – featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development – has found wider resonance across the globe, demonstrating its vitality.

The SCO has grown from the original six members, becoming the regional international organization with the broadest geographical coverage and largest population in today’s world.

This summit coincides with a historic juncture: the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, as well as the 80th anniversary of the founding of the UN.

Partnership over alliance, dialogue over confrontation – this new type of international relations that transcends civilizational conflicts, Cold War thinking, and zero-sum games has become the “popularity code” of the SCO. From the initial cooperation to combat the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, to a dual-drive approach of security and economic cooperation, and now to collaboration covering a wide range of areas including trade and investment, energy, the digital economy, modern agriculture, and green development, the SCO has proven that true multilateralism.

Currently, threats from unilateralism, protectionism, and hegemonism are on the rise, and the deficits in peace, development, and governance continue to grow. The SCO member states, which comprise about half of the world’s population and account for approximately one-quarter of the global economy, must strengthen unity and cooperation and promote the construction of a more closely-knit community with a shared future.

China – Russia talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a private discussion over a cup of tea in Beijing. On the Russian side, the meeting will be attended by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Deputy Chief of the Presidential Staff Maxim Oreshkin, and Aide for International Affairs Yury Ushakov.

“There will be a very significant conversation between our leader and Chairman Xi Jinping in an intimate setting, with only four officials present from each side,” Ushakov explained during a news briefing. “Following this, is an official meeting, which will include a larger group of participants.

According to the Kremlin official, Putin and Xi Jinping are to engage in extensive discussions during the SCO summit, including during bilateral talks and the anniversary celebrations on September 3. Large number of various agreements are to be signed, including a massive energy deal, Power of Siberia 2.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin said his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping are at an “unprecedented level” as the two met in Beijing on the eve of a massive military parade.

Putin described Xi as a dear friend; Chinese state media said relations were exemplary. Russia is to increase supplies of gas to China, while Beijing will offer visa-free travel to Russians during a year-long trial.

Modi-Xi-Putin meetings herald shift to multipolar global economy

SCO Summit shows world now clearly moving beyond a US-centered order toward multiple centers of economic power. The meeting in Tianjin between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, their first in seven years, carries significance far beyond protocol.

It took place just as Donald Trump’s expanding tariff program, which began in April and has steadily intensified through the summer, has reshaped global trade flows. The timing underscores an increasingly unmistakable reality: The world economy is no longer organized around a single dominant center but is moving toward a multipolar structure with competing sources of power and influence. Trump’s tariffs are the most visible driver of this shift.

In late August, India was hit with a 50% tariff on sectors ranging from textiles to jewellery and seafood – despite being described by Washington as a close ally. The underlying message: No relationship is exempt when the White House sees economic advantage at stake. While Washington raises trade barriers, other capitals are increasingly drawn together by necessity.

The presence of India, China, Russia and Central Asian nations, joined by Iran and Pakistan, was more than a show of diplomatic solidarity. It reflected the start of deeper economic coordination among countries that, in many cases, share only a limited history of cooperation.

The fact that Modi and Xi could engage in a substantive dialogue after the deadly 2020 Galwan Valley clashes illustrates how rapidly strategic calculations are shifting under external pressure.

The broader consequence is that the post-war consensus, which placed the United States at the center of the global system, is steadily eroding. The tariff program, by design or not, is accelerating the development of parallel networks of trade, finance and security. Where globalization once implied convergence toward shared standards, it now increasingly produces separate systems of rules and practices.

Countries subject to tariffs or sanctions aren’t waiting for negotiations to bring them back into the fold. Instead, they’re building alternative institutions and regional frameworks designed to reduce their dependence on Washington. This isn’t an academic debate for investors around the world. It’s a fundamental reorganization of how capital is allocated and how markets function.

Supply chains are being redrawn around regional resilience rather than global efficiency. Long-established correlations between markets are weakening as political risks begin to outweigh the traditional drivers of performance. The assumptions that guided portfolio construction for a generation can no longer be relied upon.

Central banks have been quick to recognize the change. Reserve diversification away from the dollar is gathering pace, supported by record gold purchases and a shift into non-dollar assets. Regional payment systems are being developed to handle trade settlement without relying on Washington’s financial infrastructure. The dollar remains dominant, but its share of global reserves is gradually declining – along with it the United States’ unchallenged role in global finance.

The impact is already visible across various sectors. Tech supply chains, once structured for cost efficiency, are being reorganized around political reliability. Semiconductor hubs are being developed in multiple regions to limit the risk of exclusion from US-controlled markets.

Energy partnerships are being restructured as sanctions and tariffs force producers and consumers to find new channels for investment and delivery. Infrastructure financing, historically led by Western-backed institutions, is increasingly sourced through regional banks and sovereign initiatives.

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The SCO meeting encapsulates these developments. India and China remain wary competitors, but the logic of economic survival compels them to consider cooperation. Russia, locked out of Western markets, is deepening its reliance on non-Western partners. Smaller states, from Central Asia to the Middle East, are aligning with whichever constellation offers the most reliable access to trade and capital.

These are pragmatic calculations, not ideological choices, reinforcing the trend toward a more fragmented yet more balanced global economy. For markets, this fragmentation is not likely to be a temporary disruption. Tariffs are becoming embedded as long-term policy tools, not short-term bargaining chips. Countries are planning as though barriers will remain in place for years, building resilience into their economic models accordingly.

This means investors must also shift their perspective. It’s no longer realistic to expect a return to the highly integrated system of the past. What is emerging is a more regionalized structure in which influence is shared across multiple centers of power.

The image of Modi and Xi meeting in Tianjin, however brief, crystallizes what Trump’s tariffs have already set in motion. What unfolded in China this week, and what is unfolding in Washington’s tariff schedules, are two sides of the same story — a story of fragmentation, resilience and new centers of economic gravity that will define markets for years to come.

Results and ramifications of the SCO Summit 2025

The SCO Heads of State meeting saw the signing and adoption of a number of key documents, including the Tianjin Declaration and a development strategy for the organization in the 2026-2035 period, which charts the SCO’s blueprint for the next decade. Leaders of SCO member states agreed to accept Laos as a dialogue partner of the organization and decided that Kyrgyzstan will take over the rotating SCO presidency for 2025-2026.

Outcomes of the meeting also include a statement on supporting the multilateral trading system, a statement on the 80th anniversary of WWII victory and of the founding of the United Nations, and 24 outcome documents on strengthening cooperation in sectors such as security, economy and people-to-people ties, as well as organizational building.

Four new SCO centers were inaugurated to counter security threats and challenges, tackle transnational organized crimes, improve information security, and strengthen anti-drug cooperation, respectively.

Leaders of SCO member states, SCO Secretary-General and Director of the Executive Committee, delivered speeches at the meeting. In the face of a turbulent world, SCO member states should enhance strategic coordination, reject unilateralism, hegemony and protectionism, improve the global governance system and uphold international fairness and justice, they said.

President Xi called on SCO member states to stay true to the organization’s founding mission and promote its sound and sustained development with greater resolve and more practical measures. SCO member states should seek common ground while putting aside differences, pursue mutual benefit and win-win results, champion openness and inclusiveness, uphold fairness and justice, and strive for real results and high efficiency, according to Xi.

Xi said the member states should leverage the strengths of their mega-sized markets and economic complementarity, and improve trade and investment facilitation. He expected cooperation to be enhanced in areas such as energy, infrastructure, green industry, digital economy, sci-tech innovation and artificial intelligence, as well as an SCO development bank to be established as soon as possible.

Xi announced that China will provide 2 billion yuan (about 281 million U.S. dollars) in grant to other SCO member states within this year, and issue an additional 10 billion yuan in loan to the member banks of the SCO Interbank Consortium over the next three years. In addition, China plans to implement 100 development projects in the member states. China’s investment stock in other SCO member states has exceeded $84 billion dollars and its annual bilateral trade with other SCO member states has surpassed $500 billion dollars.

Dawning of the New World Order

Many Western political leaders and pundits continue to indulge themselves in the fantasy that the US is in control of its destiny and is an unbreakable hegemon. As the result of SCO Summit, a new chapter in the history of international politics is being written.

Donald Trump’s foreign policy is turning into a serial production of debacles.

Case in point: India. The short-sighted decision to hit India with 25% tariffs, and an additional 25% penalty, has energized India’s political class to distance themselves from the United States. Prime Minister Modi, on behalf of his government, now assumes the Presidency of BRICS, and is embracing the task of planning and hosting the 2026 BRICS summit in India. He will not submit to US threats or bullying.

As part of moving BRICS forward, India’s longstanding, contentious relationship with China is in the process of being revamped, with India and China now behaving more as friends than as enemies. China will work with all parties in the SCO to take the regional security forum to a new level.

BRICS, along with the SCO, is busy constructing an alternative to the post-WW II international economic and political system that has dominated world affairs for the last 80 years. While many in the West foolishly dismiss these gatherings as meaningless, Russia, China and India are serious about creating an economic, financial and international political system that is no longer subject to a veto by the United States or Europe.

The fact that they represent the most dynamic and innovative economies in the world today should be enough to entice the West to find a path for cooperation with them. With Washington in the lead and the Europeans tagging along behind, the West is committed to a policy of confrontation and punishment. The US-tariffs imposed on India are just the latest example.

History will register that as much as BRICS finally stepped into the limelight at the summit in Kazan in 2024, the SCO replicated the move at the summit in Tianjin in 2025.

It was President Xi, who personally set the main guidelines – proposing no less than a broad, new Global Governance model, complete with important ramifications such as a SCO development back, which should complement the BRICS’s NDB, as well as close AI cooperation.

Global Governance, the Chinese way, encompasses five core principles. The most crucial is sovereign equality. That connects with respect for the international rule of law – and not American designed “rules-based international order”. Global Governance advances multilateralism and also inevitably encourages a “people-centered” approach in social interaction and commerce.

The dance of Bear, Dragon and Elephant. The original RIC (Russia, India, China), as conceptualized by the Russian legendary FM Yevgeny Primakov in the late 1990s, were finally back in the game, together.

These roadmaps are essential to set long-term strategies and in the case of the SCO, that means organizing its progressive shift from initially an anti-terrorism mechanism to a complex multilateral platform coordinating infrastructure development and geoeconomics.

That’s where China’s new idea – the establishment of the SCO Development Bank – comes in. It’s a mirror institution to the NDB – the BRICS bank based in Shanghai, and parallel to the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the multilateral bank based in Beijing.

Once again, BRICS and SCO run intertwined, as their key focus is to progressively ditch dependence on Western paradigms and at the same time fight the effect of sanctions, which not by accident hit hard on the four top members of both BRICS and SCO: Russia, China, India and Iran.

The relations of two Asian giants, China and India, are warming up quickly. Prime minister Modi was in China for the first time in 7 years. Xi went straight to the point: “China and India are great civilizations whose responsibilities extend beyond bilateral issues. Xi once again hit the dancefloor: the future lies “in the dance of the dragon and the elephant.”

The Tianjin Declaration – not as extensive as Kazan last year – still managed to emphasize the key points that apply to Eurasia: sovereignty, above anything else; non-interference in internal affairs of member-states; and total rejection of unilateral sanctions as tools of coercion. Development strategies of different nations already cooperate with BRI projects, from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to the China-Belarus Industrial Park, extrapolating to cross-border e-commerce, AI and Big Data.

The SCO’s massive geographic scale, combined with half of the world’s population, carries tremendous potential across the spectrum – for instance on trade, transport infrastructure, cross-border investment and financial transactions. The potential is far from being realized. But the high-speed trains are already rolling: geopolitical imperatives are guiding increased pan-Eurasia geoeconomic interaction.

As to the “Shanghai Spirit”, in his toast at the elegant banquet offered in Tianjin for SCO guests, Xi had to quote a Chinese proverb: “In a race of a hundred boats, those who row the hardest will lead”. It’s always about hard work – for the common good. That’s what BRICS and SCO are fighting for.

When speaking of multipolarity, the leaders made it known that a new world of cooperation was emerging in with or without the West. Xi declared that global governance has arrived at a crossroads. Xi went on to propose a Global Governance Initiative (GGI) based on five key cornerstones:

Adhering to sovereign equality
Abiding by international rule of law
Practicing multilateralism
Advocating the people-centered approach
And focusing on taking real actions

By adopting a strategy until 2035, an initiative to establish its own Development Bank and reform the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is positioning itself as the strategic axis of a new, fairer and multipolar world order, in which a single center of power no longer makes decisions but by a community of equal states.

The most important role of the SCO Development Bank will be to encourage trade in national currencies, thereby strengthening the financial independence of member states. Although trade turnover between Russia and China is measured in dollars, the actual trade is conducted in national currencies — the yuan and the ruble.

While the Western order, led by the US, operates on the basis of hegemony — where one center of power imposes rules on others — the Chinese and Russians envision a multipolar world. In this model, the interests of all states and regions should be equally respected, without imposing the values and standards of others.

Now Europe and the US are falling into the background. Although the US and EU proudly proclaim they have 800 million inhabitants, it should be noted that China and India together have three billion inhabitants, which is many times more. Russia, the largest country in the world by territory, has all the necessary resources. The development of the US and its advanced technologies is not possible without rare earth elements and 70% of these elements are in the hands of China, which is threatened with sanctions.

This is exactly the point of the SCO: the world is changing, and the US and EU can no longer dictate the conditions as they once did. The summit, attended by leaders from Russia, China, and India, demonstrated unprecedented unity that has become a significant challenge for US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. The summit’s display of solidarity was widely seen as a response to Trump’s efforts to contain Beijing, disrupt Russia-China ties, and dissuade India from purchasing Russian oil.

Trump failed to isolate Russia from its partners. Faced with US tariffs and critical rhetoric, Modi engaged more positively with both Putin and Xi Jinping. The Tianjin summit marked Modi’s first visit to China in seven years. A joint photograph of the three leaders holding hands was widely interpreted as a symbolic gesture undermining attempts by the US to sow discord among these major powers.

Strategic significance of “Power of Siberia 2”

Russia’s planned expansion of natural gas exports to China, particularly through the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, has the potential to fundamentally alter the balance of the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. According to Bloomberg, this development poses a serious challenge to US strategic ambitions in the energy sector. The strengthening of ties between Moscow and Beijing weakens Washington’s leverage in global energy politics, undermining its ability to use LNG exports as a geopolitical tool.

For the US, the challenge is significant. LNG export projects require massive investment and long-term demand guarantees. If China — the largest potential buyer — turns to Russian pipeline gas, the profitability of many American projects could be in jeopardy. Investors are increasingly forced to consider the risk of shrinking demand and rising competition.

Ultimately, the expanding Russia-China energy alliance signals a structural shift in the global market. Washington’s path to energy dominance is narrowing as Moscow and Beijing build a new architecture that blends economic pragmatism with geopolitical strategy.

Power Of Siberia-2: Russia Locks In China Gas Deal, Europe Shut Out | Times Now World

Times Now World September 2, 2025

Wrap-up of the results of SCO Summit 2025

The results of the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit indicate that it is gaining increasing importance as a global pole that is beginning to compete with and threaten the Western pole. Although it has not yet fully formed a competitive global pole, the summit reflected the determination of its leaders to achieve their strategic goal of building a multipolar world order. Examining the outcomes of the 47th summit, the following conclusions can be noted.

First, the results on the political and economic levels worldwide:

Challenging Western unipolar hegemony led by the United States of America: The convening of the summit represented a confirmation and determination by its leaders to declare their challenge to Western unipolar hegemony, especially in light of the trade tensions imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump on countries such as China and India. This has strengthened the rapprochement between them and given new impetus to the SCO in its quest to break unipolarity in favor of building a multipolar world order free of hegemony.
Enhancing economic, military, and security cooperation among member states: The organization aims to enhance security, economic, and military cooperation among member states, which represent approximately half the world’s population and a quarter of global GDP.
Working to build an alternative financial system to the US-dominated financial system: The summit witnessed an increased focus on the use of national currencies in intra-regional trade among member states, which is seen as a step towards reducing reliance on the US dollar and bypassing the SWIFT transfer system, which is controlled by Washington.
Electro-Yuan Gambit. Perhaps the boldest and most consequential development was Xi Jinping’s call to expand the use of the yuan in energy settlements. Analysts quickly dubbed the concept the “electro-yuan,” a system designed to link China’s digital currency with cross-border trade in oil, gas, and electricity. Unlike conventional trade settlements, which rely on correspondent banking in US dollars, the electro-yuan would enable real-time, blockchain-enabled transactions directly between SCO member states, bypassing traditional financial intermediaries.
Global Governance Initiative: Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a global governance initiative aimed at establishing a more just and equal international order based on the principles of multilateralism and the rule of law.
Conflict Resolution: The organization has succeeded in resolving some border disputes between member states, reflecting its role in achieving regional stability.
Expansion: The summit demonstrates the organization’s expansion and the accession of new countries, strengthening its geopolitical influence.

Then, in terms of rapprochement between China and India:

The Shanghai Summit achieved a significant and tangible rapprochement between China and India, despite previous border disputes between the two countries. This rapprochement is viewed as an important step towards strengthening the organization’s role as a competitive and counterbalancing force to the Western pole.
Chinese and Indian sides affirm their commitment to resolving their disputes: During the summit, both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to resolve their border disputes, a significant development that puts an end to previous tensions.
Enhancing cooperation: It was agreed to enhance economic and trade cooperation, and the two countries discussed easing trade restrictions and resuming direct flights.
Common goal: Xi emphasized that the relationship between the two countries should be one of “partners, not adversaries,” and that the common goal is to provide development opportunities, which consolidates the idea of cooperation versus competition.

Based on the above, the summit’s outcomes appear to indicate that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is moving forward towards strengthening its presence as a global pole that strongly competes with the unipolar West, especially since the center of gravity in the global economy is shifting from the West to the East, where growth rates and a favorable environment for investment by international companies are higher.

V-Day commemorations

September 3 is celebrated in China as Victory Day, marking the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on Sept 2, 1945. The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) was the first war to break out and the longest-running campaign in the World Anti-Fascist War. It resulted in over 35 million Chinese military and civilian casualties.

China held a massive military parade in central Beijing on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of its victory in World War II, pledging the country’s commitment to peaceful development in a world still fraught with turbulence and uncertainties.

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, oversaw the parade and reviewed the troops.

Standing beside Xi on Tian’anmen Rostrum were Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong Un, along with more than 20 other foreign leaders.

Xi delivered a speech before the parade. Highlighting the significance of the victory 80 years ago, Xi said it marks China’s first complete victory against foreign aggression in modern times. Xi noted that the Chinese people made a major contribution to the salvation of human civilization and the defense of world peace with immense sacrifice in the war. Xi demanded that the PLA provide strategic support for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. He reiterated China’s commitment to peaceful development.

More than 10,000 military personnel, along with over 100 aircraft and hundreds of ground armaments, were arranged into formations according to a wartime command system. The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) new system of services and arms — the result of military reforms under Xi’s leadership — was put on display for the first time.

The advanced armaments put on display included unmanned intelligence and counter-unmanned equipment, hypersonic missiles, directed-energy weapons, electronic jamming systems, and strategic weaponry capable of global strikes.

Twenty-six foreign heads of state and government will attend China’s Victory Day commemorations, which will include a military parade, on Wednesday as Beijing hopes to use the event to reaffirm its commitment to defending the victorious outcomes of World War II and contributing to world peace and development.

Conclusion

PLA’s military parade was a unique show of force, unparalleled in today’s world. It confirmed the top quality and quantity of China’s military force, revealing technically the most modern weaponry in the world. When combined these features with the knowledge of practically limitless Chinese production capacity of military material, this makes China a real superpower of today.

Just one curious example: China can organize within a few months the production capacity to produce well over a billion drones annually!

[FULL]Xi reviews troops to mark 80th anniversary of victory over Japanese aggression

ShanghaiEye September 3, 2025

Chinese President Xi Jinping reviewed troops in Beijing on Wednesday during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Standing in a Hongqi limousine, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, gave the command for the review to begin. As the review vehicle moved slowly eastward, passing the fluttering flags of the Party, the nation and the army that stood before the assembled troops, Xi saluted the flags with a fixed gaze. Amid resounding military music, Xi inspected foot, banner and armament formations along Chang’an Avenue. As the review vehicle made its way back toward Tian’anmen, the servicemen and women chanted with one voice: “Follow the Party! Fight to win! Forge exemplary conduct!” “Justice will prevail! Peace will prevail! The people will prevail!”

Full video: March-past of China’s V-Day parade

CGTN September 3, 2025

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202509/1342555.shtml

https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1963501061773447254