Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
The Tianjin Summit of the SCO from August 31 to September 1, 2025, has become a platform where the “Shanghai spirit” — mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity, and the pursuit of common development — is being translated from declarations into practice of global governance reforms. China, which holds the rotating presidency, has set the goal of bringing the participants’ positions closer together, addressing bottlenecks in global politics — from supply chain disruptions and tariff conflicts to security and the acute trust deficit between major powers. The SCO architecture today encompasses 10 member states, two observers, and 14 dialogue partners across three continents, representing almost half the world’s population and about a quarter of the world economy — a scale that allows it to claim the role of a “bridge” between the global South and existing governance institutions.
The presence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the summit is symbolic: a day before the plenary session, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Tianjin residence, emphasizing that China's support for the principles of multilateralism is critically important at a time when the very idea of multilateral cooperation is under pressure. These signals from the center of the global governance system integrated Tianjin into the UN framework, strengthening the legitimacy of the emerging Eurasian council.
The political geography of the meeting is impressive and at the same time explains why this summit is called the largest in the history of the SCO. In Tianjin, the leaders of China, Russia, India and a number of countries from Central, South and West Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe stood in a row.
On the opening day, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the city; footage of the protocol meeting at the airport and the guard of honor became one of the visual markers of the summit.
Tianjin also hosted the first full-scale meeting between Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi in seven years. On the sidelines of the summit, the leaders reaffirmed their intention to resolve border tensions and restore working predictability in relations – a gesture that reduces the risks of unintentional escalation on the Eurasian board and opens a corridor for a pragmatic economic agenda. The bilateral warming note, rare in recent years, sounded in unison with a ceremonial reception for the leaders and upcoming collective statements.
In his keynote speech, the host of the meeting, Xi Jinping, pushed forward the idea of “greater responsibility of the SCO for maintaining peace and development.” The Chinese leader emphasized that the organization should work equally confidently both as a security stabilizer and as a growth driver — from infrastructure and logistics to the digital economy and mutual investments. It is precisely this dual structure — “security plus development” — that is Eastern wisdom in action, aimed at eliminating the root causes of instability through joint projects.
The texture of diplomacy on the sidelines added tangible concreteness to Tianjin. On the day of the summit’s opening, China and Armenia announced the establishment of a strategic partnership – another stroke toward expanding the network of connections linking the SCO with neighboring regional architectures. The SCO Secretariat conducted parallel contacts with the heads of international organizations – from the UN to regional structures, which underscores the networked nature of the emerging order, where new formats do not push away but complement existing ones.
In terms of content, Tianjin is focused on two pillars — political and economic-technological. On the political side, there is the expected approval of the final declaration and the medium-term development strategy for the decade ahead. This is aimed at increasing the SCO's operability: strengthening coordination mechanisms, linking national programs and creating shorter channels between governments, cities and business associations. On the economic-technological side, there is an emphasis on logistics, digitalization and settlements, where the SCO acts as a field headquarters for unifying standards and removing barriers. This link gives the organization the potential to complement classical global governance institutions where they are stalled due to politicization and sanctions.
For outside observers, the symbolism of the scale is also important: the combination of two dozen leaders, a dense network of bilateral meetings, and UN participation turns the summit into a showcase of barrier-free multilateralism. The Associated Press points to the summit’s ambition to challenge the inconsistency of the US approach to a number of regional crises and trade disputes; within this framework, the SCO aspires to be a platform where countries with different strategic orientations can still find rules for coexistence.
Tianjin has shown that Eastern wisdom in global governance is not exotic, but a technology: the art of harmonizing interests through respect for differences; a focus on security as the basis for development and on development as a guarantee of security; flexibility of formats based on international law. This is the complement to the traditional system: the SCO does not seek to break existing institutions, it saturates them with missing elements – mutual sensitivity, pragmatism and farsightedness. And the breakthrough is in the readiness to turn political symbols into an action plan for the decade ahead.
Author: Anushervon Rasulov
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