By: Dr. Jianli Yang
At this year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Beijing delivered a message to Eurasia and the wider Global South: in an age of trade wars, sanctions, and fractured globalization, China intends to be the stable growth engine others can rely on. Xi Jinping arrived with a script tailored for the moment, promising new initiatives in energy, renewable technology, and digital infrastructure while presenting the SCO as a platform that can rival Western institutions. The backdrop was unmistakable: U.S. tariffs are escalating, Europe remains economically shaky, and much of the developing world is looking for alternatives.
For China, the SCO is no longer just a forum for regional security cooperation. It is becoming the cornerstone of Beijing’s effort to deepen economic ties across Central Asia, expand its export markets, and offset the pressures of U.S. containment. Xi pledged investments in green industry and digital technology, while vowing to elevate the voices of the Global South in global governance. His pitch combined two themes that resonate in the region: practical development and the promise of partnership without Western-style conditions. In short, China wants the SCO to look like the future of international order, not a relic of post-Cold War geopolitics.
Yet the summit also underscored the obstacles that China faces. Xi’s meeting with India highlighted the tension between aspiration and reality. New Delhi’s participation is essential if Beijing hopes to make the SCO a truly pan-Asian economic hub. But decades-old border disputes, strategic distrust, and India’s insistence on strategic autonomy make closer alignment elusive. Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to cultivate ties with Washington and its Indo-Pacific partners, signaling that India will not be absorbed into Beijing’s orbit. For China, this means the SCO cannot yet function as a unified bloc; India remains both inside the tent and outside it, hedging between cooperation and competition.
Source: https://www.yibao.net/2025/09/08/xi-jinpings-sco-pitch-china-wants-to-be-eurasias-growth-engine/