The 2025 Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held in Tianjin, China on September 1. It highlighted the work of some of the most powerful change agents on the world political stage. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosts Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin at an extraordinary summit. Yet even as they celebrated their mutual interests, their talks revealed the difficult political climate still marked by the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. This photograph of those three leaders taking a quick break to share a smile and laugh together became an instant viral sensation. As described by The New York Times, it would be a “smiling manifestation of a troika.”
Though the picture may have conveyed a spirit of togetherness, the summit setting underscored deep ironies and paradoxes in each of their public partnerships. Notably, India opted to skip the SCO military parade, signaling the limits of any thaw in its relations with China. The unresolved border dispute between India and China, stemming from clashes in 2020, continues to loom large over diplomatic interactions.
During the summit, Modi and Putin got into the same car for an unplanned sideline meeting. This occasion showcased a true spirit of collaboration between India and Russia. Modi’s swift exit from the summit after arriving from Tokyo indicated India’s ongoing engagement with U.S. partners in Asia.
First, Beijing pushes multipolarity to counter U.S. hegemony. This approach has allowed China to promote itself as the preeminent hegemon in Asia. India surely yearns for a world where influence is multipolar. It implies that power is more broadly distributed between different countries, with no one country controlling the chessboard. This gap in perceptive indicates wider geopolitical realities and adds layers of complexity to the relationship between the two countries.
The summit followed in the wake of rapidly changing economic realities as a result of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade wars. Trump had previously criticized India for high tariffs that hindered U.S. businesses from entering the Indian market, stating:
“The reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high Tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India. It has been a totally one sided disaster! Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the U.S.” – Donald Trump
Amidst these developments, Modi’s discussions with Xi were interpreted as a subtle reminder to Washington of India’s strategic flexibility. A balancing act Despite having deepened ties with the U.S. and other democracies in recent years, India has continued to cultivate close military and economic relationships with Russia.
Many foreign policy analysts believe that Modi’s diplomatic outreach to Xi serves as a reminder to Washington of the limits of India’s alliances and partnerships on the global stage. Yet the India-China relationship remains mired with distrust and suspicion. Jeremy Chan noted:
“India is using this to opportunistically send a signal indirectly to Washington, that it has strategic options, not only in Beijing, but also in Moscow.” – Jeremy Chan
Given the bloodshed on multiple battlefields, including Ukraine, how relevant is the SCO at this high level? As Jeremy Chan pointed out:
“The SCO, while it’s generally described as a security organization, really doesn’t focus on military matters per se, and on all of the global conflicts that have taken place recently…the SCO has essentially been absent.” – Jeremy Chan
As with so many things, the SCO’s historical role is shifting. Yet it appears to be growing increasingly irrelevant in mediating crises such as Ukraine or Gaza.
At the time of the summit, proponents and hyper observers could easily discern a palpable readiness to talk. Even within these hopeful spaces, they noted, important gaps in mutual understanding remain. Gautam Bambawale remarked on the current state of India-China relations:
“The dragon and the elephant are not dancing as yet. They are just looking at each other from opposite sides of a room and trying to assess what are the implications of the relationship between the two? It’s going to take time to bring the relationship back on track.” – Gautam Bambawale