Xi, Putin, and Modi set to convene with Trump at the top of the agenda

Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Narendra Modi will hold face-to-face meetings next week during a major summit in Tianjin, China, where over 20 leaders from across Asia and the Middle East are expected to show up.

The event, known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, will run from August 31 to September 1. But this is a direct political response to President Donald Trump’s new wave of White House foreign policy; sanctions, tariffs, and backdoor trade deals.

The goal in Tianjin: figure out how to survive and outmaneuver the U.S. while he’s in office. Xi is hosting the summit to rally the Global South and help Russia rebuild its diplomatic reach after being hammered by international sanctions.

Putin, under pressure back home and from NATO, is not only attending but will stay on after the summit to appear at a World War II military parade in Beijing. That extended trip is unusual for the Russian leader, who rarely spends that long outside of Russia.

Meanwhile, Modi is traveling to China for the first time in over seven years, signaling that the India-China border tensions, which escalated in 2020, might finally be cooling off.

Leaders form united front while avoiding key fights

Xi, Putin, and Modi last shared a stage in Kazan, Russia, during the 2024 BRICS summit, a moment that rattled the West. Back then, Trump was already ramping up pressure with tariffs and sanctions. Now, with him back in the White House, the goal for Xi is to push forward a new international alignment.

Eric Olander, editor-in-chief at The China-Global South Project, said:

“Xi will want to use the summit as an opportunity to showcase what a post-American-led international order begins to look like and that all White House efforts since January to counter China, Iran, Russia, and now India have not had the intended effect.”

Officials from the Russian embassy in New Delhi said they’re hoping for a three-way conversation between China, India, and Russia. Xi and Putin have coordinated before. Now, bringing Modi into the room makes this summit bigger than the usual SCO formalities.

A Chinese foreign ministry official confirmed this is the largest SCO gathering since its creation in 2001, with 10 permanent members and 16 other countries joining as dialogue or observer states.

The SCO, originally built around security and counter-terrorism, now covers economic, military, and trade cooperation. But analysts say it’s still more talk than results.

“What is the precise vision that the SCO represents and its practical implementation are rather fuzzy,” said Manoj Kewalramani, chair of the Indo-Pacific Research Programme at Bangalore’s Takshashila Institution. “But the SCO’s effectiveness in addressing substantial security issues remains very limited.”

Modi expected to hold side talks and soften friction

The June SCO defense ministers’ meeting ended without a joint statement after India refused to back it, citing the lack of any mention of the April 22 Kashmir attack, where Hindu tourists were killed. That incident led to some of the worst fighting between India and Pakistan in decades.

India also didn’t support a statement that condemned Israeli strikes on Iran earlier in June. Despite those disputes, officials now believe Modi is ready to step over that friction.

Olander explained, “It’s likely (New Delhi) will swallow their pride and put this year’s SCO problems behind them in a bid to maintain momentum in the détente with China, which is a key Modi priority right now.”

Tanmaya Lal, an official at India’s foreign ministry, said Modi is coming with a list of demands focused on trade, sovereignty, connectivity, and territorial integrity. He is also expected to hold separate bilateral meetings on the sidelines.

The backchannel momentum between India and China could result in a few real outcomes: withdrawal of border troops, visa and trade relaxations, and even new cooperation in climate and people-to-people exchanges.

While most experts don’t expect major policy announcements, they warn that the optics of this gathering matter more than what gets signed. “This summit is about optics, really powerful optics,” Olander said.

After the summit ends, Modi will head back to India. But Putin will stay behind for that military parade, one of his longest foreign stays in recent years.

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