SCO Summit opens in northern China as leaders prepare to sign Tianjin Declaration

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s 25th summit in Tianjin, where leaders from more than 20 nations, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, are attending.

The two-day gathering, described as the largest in the SCO’s history, is expected to adopt the Tianjin Declaration and approve the group’s 2035 development strategy.

The two-day meeting gathers leaders from more than 20 nations, including China, Russia, Türkiye, India, Iran, Pakistan, the Central Asian republics, and states across the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia. Chinese President Xi Jinping is presiding, marking the fifth time China has hosted the summit since the SCO was founded in 2001.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit is his first to China in seven years, seen as a sign of warmer relations between the neighbours.

Azerbaijan in focus

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived on Sunday, meeting Xi Jinping before holding bilateral talks with major Chinese state and private companies. Xi expressed support for Azerbaijan’s bid to become a full SCO member, upgrading from its current status as dialogue partner. The two countries signed agreements on infrastructure, energy, digital economy, green development and artificial intelligence.

Diplomatic activity

China and Armenia also announced a new strategic partnership. The summit featured high-level engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and UN Secretary-General António Guterres among those attending. Cordial interactions between Aliyev, Erdoğan and Pashinyan drew particular attention.

Xi Jinping stressed the SCO’s responsibility for regional peace and development, urging member states to deepen cooperation.

Key agenda

As the summit enters its second day, Modi is expected to meet Putin and address the plenary. Leaders will present their national perspectives as the group prepares to adopt the “Tianjin Declaration” and a long-term development strategy to 2035.

The agenda includes tackling terrorism, cybersecurity and biosafety, as well as advancing trade, connectivity and transport projects tied to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. More than 20 agreements are due to be signed, covering security, economic cooperation and digital transformation.

China's Xi unveils vision for new global order at security forum

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to harness their “mega-scale market”, setting out his vision for a new global security and economic order that presents a challenge to the United States.

In his opening remarks to more than 20 world leaders at the two-day summit in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin, Xi said the SCO had become a model for a new type of international relations.

“We should champion equal and orderly multipolarisation of the world, pursue inclusive globalisation, and work towards building a fairer and more equitable global governance system,” he said.

Xi announced that China would provide 2 billion yuan (£220 million) in free aid to member states this year, along with an additional 10 billion yuan in loans for the SCO banking consortium. He urged the bloc to strengthen cooperation in areas such as energy, infrastructure, science, technology and artificial intelligence.

“We must make full use of the mega-scale market to raise the level of trade and investment facilitation,” he added.

The summit, attended by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia, was seen as a significant demonstration of Global South solidarity.

The SCO, originally founded by six Eurasian nations, has since expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue and observer partners.

Xi also called on members to “reject Cold War thinking and bloc confrontation” and to uphold multilateral trade systems- a veiled reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which have particularly affected developing economies such as India, whose exports were recently hit with a 50% duty.

On Sunday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres praised China’s “fundamental” role in defending global multilateralism.

Analysts say Beijing is using the SCO’s largest-ever summit to showcase an alternative model of global governance to the U.S.-led international order, at a time of erratic policymaking, America’s retreat from multilateral bodies and broader geopolitical shifts.

The gathering also provided an opportunity for Beijing to ease tensions with New Delhi. Modi, making his first visit to China in seven years, met Xi on Sunday, with both leaders agreeing that their countries are development partners rather than rivals and discussing ways to improve trade ties amidst the uncertainty caused by global tariffs.

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