Tianjin SCO summit cements China-Russia push for multipolar order

Leaders from across Eurasia converged in Tianjin this week for the two day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, where Chinese President Xi Jinping sought to cement Beijing's role as a central node in a rising multipolar order and Russian President Vladimir Putin praised deeper China Russia ties as unprecedented. The summit, which concluded on September 1, brought together heads of state including India’s Narendra Modi, Pakistan’s leaders, Iran’s president and other regional figures, and was followed by plans for a military parade in Beijing later this week.

Xi used the platform to call for strengthened multilateralism and proposed a new SCO development bank and a comprehensive credit programme aimed at expanding economic cooperation in fields from artificial intelligence to lunar research. Leaders unanimously endorsed a ten year development strategy and a Tianjin Declaration that, according to Chinese diplomatic statements, condemned military aggression against Iran and affirmed the legitimate rights of states to peaceful nuclear energy. China’s ambassador to Iran described the summit as the most prominent and productive in the organization’s history.