The Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit may go down in history as one of the biggest challenges to US global leadership.
As the concept of “Westlessness” is debated in international power dynamics, the Global South group led by China is consolidating its geopolitical power day by day. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization met in the port city of Tianjin, where it first convened 24 years ago. The organization includes countries such as Iran, Russia, and Belarus, which openly display hostility toward the West.
Washington's unstable rhetoric on the Ukraine War and its trade wars with countries such as China and India show that the multipolar world order has been accepted in the US as well. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, invited to the Organization to break American dominance in Central Asia, now serve to sustain China's influence. Sanctions targeting the Russian economy have made Moscow more dependent on China. The Russian military's combat experience and endless natural resources have made China more dangerous. The two countries, closer than ever before, have become leading actors in changing the global order through joint exercises and regional cooperation.
India could shift the balance
When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it was subjected to devastating economic sanctions by the West. India capitalized on the opportunity this created and became one of the most important buyers of Russian oil.
Indian Prime Minister Modi is taking many steps to improve relations with China. However, India remains cautious about supporting Russia's war in Ukraine or China's claims over Taiwan. Despite Trump's pressure to stop buying Russian oil, Modi refused to do so and met with Russian leader Putin in a car for about an hour, even though it was not part of the plans.
The two leaders, who were in China to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, held bilateral talks in Putin's Russian-made limousine. While the details of the meeting were not disclosed, Modi only posted on his personal social media account, “Conversations with him are always enlightening.”
Modi made considerable efforts to improve relations with China from 2014, when he came to power, until 2018. However, following a border clash in 2020, relations between the two countries were on ice. There are also problems between the two countries in the economic sphere. In particular, the trade deficit stands out as a problem in itself.
India will host the Quad Summit in the coming months, which will include Japan, Australia, and the US. The summit is seen as a challenge to China's dominance in the Indo-Pacific, but it is difficult to predict how much of this can be achieved following Tianjin.
China, meanwhile, views the rapprochement between the two countries as “the dragon and the elephant coming together.” It emphasizes that friendship and good neighborliness should exist between the world's two most populous countries. There is now an excellent opportunity for Beijing and New Delhi to repair their strained relations.
Was an agreement really reached in Alaska?
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he and US President Donald Trump reached an agreement during their meeting in Alaska last month to end the war in Ukraine. Speaking at a summit in China, Putin continued to defend his decision to invade Ukraine and once again blamed the West for the war.
Putin met with Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi in Tianjin while speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. He thanked the Chinese and Indian leaders for their support and efforts to facilitate a resolution to the Ukraine crisis.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit also provided Putin with an opportunity to express gratitude to these two countries. For the Moscow administration, which has mitigated the economic sanctions imposed by the West on the Russian economy due to the war in Ukraine with the support of China and India, this summit presented a highly favorable opportunity.
Geçit töreni yeni bir dünya düzeninin ayak seslerine dönüşebilir
The 80th anniversary of the end of World War II will be celebrated with a grand parade. Chinese President Xi Jinping directly challenged the US on Monday, emphasizing a new vision for global security and economic order. In this context, the importance given to the parade has once again gained meaning.
The Chinese President also stressed that global governance has reached a crossroads. The parade to be held on the anniversary of World War II may also signify that the US-led global order established after World War II is about to collapse.
The new security system to be established will be, in Putin's words, “not Europe-centric and not like the European-Atlantic models, but a system that takes into account the interests of a wide range of countries, is truly balanced, and does not allow any country to ensure its security at the expense of others.”
