‘SCO Summit To Unite World Leaders in China’

Aug. 29—That is the headline on a Sputnik article which is fairly representative of much of the media coverage in Russia, China and now India, about the upcoming Aug. 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Sputnik reported that “more than 20 heads of state and representatives of international organizations will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1,” including: China, Russia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Maldives, Nepal, Türkiye, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The Hindustan Times reported that “the meeting, hosted by [Chinese] President Xi Jinping, is expected to project Global South solidarity, give sanctions-hit Russia another diplomatic platform, and underline Beijing’s growing clout.” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also “expected to hold some bilateral meetings during the Summit’s sidelines,” according to Indian officials. In addition, they reported, “Russian officials in New Delhi recently said they hope for trilateral talks between India, China and Russia on the sidelines.”

Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of the China-Global South Project media initiative, in remarks to Reuters said: “It’s likely India will put recent SCO disputes behind and focus on sustaining the détente with China, which is a key Modi priority…. Xi will want to use the summit as an opportunity to showcase what a post-American-led international order begins to look like and that all White House efforts since January to counter China, Iran, Russia, and now India, have not had the intended effect.”

Reuters said the summit would be “Powerful optics, a powerful show of Global South solidarity in the age of Donald Trump while also helping sanctions-hit Russia pull off another diplomatic coup…. Analysts say expansion is high on the agenda for many countries attending.”