While the United States and Israel perpetuate global chaos in the world, China is building and constructing for its future and that of humanity. In the beginning of September in Tianjin, a city of 14 million inhabitants in the north-east of the country, China held Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2025, the largest in the organization’s history.
President Xi Jinping organized an impressive military parade in honor of his guests. Both the conference and the military parade symbolically celebrated the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat by Maoist revolutionary forces.
Tianjin also reminds the world of the unfair and unequal treaty imposed by the West in 1858, which forced China to open its ports, legalize the opium trade, and Christianize the country through coercion.
This extraordinary military demonstration brought together thousands of soldiers and showcased the best weapons produced by Chinese industries to defend the country and assert its dominance over the Americans, who are lying in wait in Taiwan and the Pacific.
Advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching any country, sophisticated drones, high-energy laser weapons and many other weapons were on display. Speaking to the press in his country, US President Donald Trump said he had watched the parade, which he admitted was distinguished by its spectacular staging and rigorous presentation.
Trump regretted that the role of the United States in Japan’s defeat was not recognized by the Chinese authorities during this event. He pointed out what he considered to be a major oversight and the absence of any reference to the American contribution during the Second World War to defeat the Japanese Empire. He recalled that the memory of the war is not limited to national narratives, but remains linked to shared alliances and sacrifices.
However, the American leader seems to have forgotten all his past criticisms and personal grudges against China, as well as the various frictions on so many issues, such as trade and the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
Long before Trump made this remarks, Xi Jinping had given a speech at the SCO summit stating that humanity once again faces a choice between peace and war, and between dialogue and confrontation. In front of some 20 invited heads of state, he reiterated the idea that the rebirth of the Chinese nation cannot be stopped, and that the noble cause of peace and development for humanity will surely triumph.
In all his speeches and appearances, Xi was keen to assume the role of a great power befitting his country, while refraining from mentioning the United States, which is seeking to contain Chinese influence around the world.
After Washington had just concluded a trade truce with Beijing, the country turned to India and imposed a 50% increase in customs tariffs on its exports to the US at the end of August due to its economic ties with Moscow. With this draconian measure, Trump was attempting to pressure India into abandoning its purchase of Russian oil, in the hope that Moscow would finally agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. All these American threats, which have become Trump’s diplomatic tool of choice, have so far had the opposite effect, contributing to the disorder in global trade.
New Delhi has therefore moved closer to the SCO, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before travelling to Beijing, was keen to assure that he does not intend to bow down and submit to Trump, despite the latter often declaring himself to be his great friend. This new stance was appreciated by both Beijing and the Kremlin, which saw it as a sign of sovereignty and independence. This closeness was evident during the meetings between Putin and Modi throughout the summit. Both deliberately displayed great camaraderie in front of the cameras during their meetings and other gatherings.
To date, all American threats against Russia, China and India, three major world powers, have failed to achieve any of their objectives. Only Europe is currently voluntarily submitting to Trump’s injunctions in order to save its faltering alliance with the US, and in the hopes of containing threats from Russia. Meanwhile, Trump, no longer taking European concerns into account, is captivated by Putin’s personality, repeatedly trying to win him over in order to distance him from any strategic alliance with China.
For Putin, the SCO has become one of the spearheads of his foreign policy towards Asia, just as the BRICS organization is for Moscow at the international level. This shift towards Asia began in 1996, just after the collapse of the USSR and the Eastern Bloc. It has been reinforced by Putin since 2010, then amplified since his war in Ukraine and the deterioration of his relations with the West. It was under the leadership of former Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, 1996-1999, that Russia turned to Asia to break the encirclement that the West wanted to impose on it.
Primakov’s doctrine was based on three main principles, which can be summarized as follows:
Russia cannot be reduced to a European power alone;
The post-Cold War will be multipolar and not dominated by the United States;
Russia has a privileged right of oversight over the former Soviet countries.
This led to the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 1996. In 2001, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan joined as its first members. Other countries, such as India and Pakistan joined in 2016, then followed Iran in 2021 and Belarus in 2024.
For Moscow, Primakov’s doctrine allows it to regain more room to act towards Asia, and especially towards China. Faced with American unilateralism, Russia was aware that it was less able to defend its interests by playing solely on the differences between the United States and Europe.
Through this diversification, Primakov’s goal was to enable Russia to extend its influence towards Eurasia, while thwarting American containment policy. During his time as his country’s foreign minister, Primakov had concluded that rapprochement with the West was not at all conclusive,and that it was time to get out of this trap.
This is how Russia and China became the heart and driving force of the SCO. The two countries succeeded in persuading India, another major power, to join the organization, together with Pakistan, in order to reduce regional conflicts as much as possible, and create the conditions for harmonious development that would benefit all members. Since the Yeltsin and Primakov era, Russia had already forged a strategic partnership with China covering nuclear power, energy and the arms industry, with the aim of extending it to the entire region. With the integration of India, which also dreams of one day joining the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member, the SCO is becoming an international institution that matters a lot.
It is in light of these developments that we can understand the final declaration of the SCO summit, or what has been called the Tianjin Pact. One of its major innovations was the announcement of several initiatives, such as the creation of a development bank to finance infrastructure projects and reduce member countries’ dependence on Western banks. This new financial institution joins the new BRICS development bank, which is already operational. Both are expected to promote national projects tailored to the needs of member countries in order to accelerate the development and integration of their economies.
The participants also discussed future prospects and agreed to intensify their cooperation in all areas, particularly in the field of new technologies. Above all, they intend to step up investment in key sectors such as renewable energy and to encourage cultural and educational exchanges between them. But, what will be remembered from this summit are the intense meetings held by the three heads of state of China, Russia and India, in parallel with the summit, the content of which is not yet known.
What is certain is that this momentous conference, at which the three major powers – China, India and Russia – joined forces to oppose the Trump administration’s policy of domination, an act that will be remembered for a long time to come. It is China in particular that has emerged stronger, reaffirming its status as a major power, and its firm determination to redefine international relations in the face of American unilateralism. The Tianjin Declaration therefore largely emphasized this ambition for the entire Eurasian region. Above all, it gives the rest of humanity hope for a new multipolar and peaceful era, far from the current chaos that Trump wants to impose on the whole world.
