Xi hosts Putin, Modi at Major Eurasian Summit in China

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping : File Photo

Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with leaders from around 20 Eurasian countries, to a high-profile summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tianjin on Sunday. The gathering, billed as a showcase of China’s regional leadership, will continue until Monday under tight security.

The SCO, formed in 2001, includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus as full members, with 16 other states affiliated as observers or dialogue partners. This year’s meeting is the first since US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, giving added significance to discussions on global security and economic cooperation.

Putin arrived in Tianjin with senior officials and business leaders, while Modi made his first visit to China since 2018 amid a delicate phase in Sino-Indian relations. The two neighbours, who fought a deadly border clash in 2020, began a slow thaw in ties after a brief meeting between Modi and Xi in Russia last October.

During the summit, Xi held bilateral talks with leaders from the Maldives, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and India. More than 20 heads of state are in attendance, including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, making it the largest SCO summit since the organisation’s creation.

Analysts say China and Russia view the SCO as a counterweight to Western-dominated alliances such as NATO. Speaking ahead of the event, Putin said the summit would “strengthen the SCO’s capacity to respond to contemporary challenges, consolidate solidarity across Eurasia, and contribute to a fairer multipolar world order.”

China, which faces tensions with the United States over Taiwan, and Russia, under Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, are increasingly using platforms like the SCO to expand their influence. Experts argue Beijing is attempting to position the bloc as a “non-Western-led” power structure based on sovereignty, non-interference, and multipolarity.

Regional analysts highlight that Russia is seeking closer cooperation with India as it confronts Western isolation. Modi’s presence comes days after Washington imposed fresh tariffs on Indian goods in response to New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil, complicating India’s trade relations with the United States.

On the sidelines of the summit, Xi also met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, while Putin is scheduled to hold talks with Erdogan and Pezeshkian on the Ukraine war and Iran’s nuclear programme.

The large-scale participation in Tianjin underlines China’s growing influence across Eurasia and signals that the SCO is becoming an increasingly important platform for countries looking for alternatives to Western-led institutions.