As Xi Jinping takes the salute at a parade in Beijing on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, he is overseeing a massive display of China’s military power and advanced weapons. This week has already seen a powerful demonstration of China’s growing geopolitical influence and the emerging shape of an alternative to the global order dominated by the United States and its European allies.
In Tianjin on Monday, Xi hosted leaders from 26 countries for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a Eurasian economic and security group. Its 10 members include China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran, as well as Belarus and the central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The most striking image from the summit was that of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Russian president Vladimir Putin holding hands as they walked along a red carpet to meet Xi. It was a dramatic gesture of defiance towards Donald Trump, who has imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, complaining that India is profiteering by buying crude oil from Russia.
Trump has also angered Modi by claiming to have mediated an end to last May’s armed conflict between India and Pakistan. The standoff threatens to unravel 25 years of US efforts to recruit India as a counterweight to China in Asia.
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Relations between India and China, which have been turbulent since the two countries fought a border war in the early 1960s, have been especially tense during the first years of this decade. But recent months have seen a thaw as both sides seek to de-escalate their border dispute and Modi and Xi on Monday announced the restoration of direct flights between their countries.
Xi used the summit to launch the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) aimed at reforming the international system established after the end of the second world war. It would preserve the existing structures but change how they operate so that “the house rules of a few countries must not be imposed upon others”.
Xi’s emphasis on sovereign equality and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states resonates with many countries in the Global South which reject the legitimacy of economic sanctions imposed by the US and the EU. This scepticism extends beyond the immediate targets of sanctions such as Russia and Iran to third countries that resent their trade being restricted on account of conflicts they are not part of.
Wednesday’s display of military hardware in Beijing will perhaps frighten some of China’s neighbours and the people of Taiwan. But the diplomatic manoeuvres in Tianjin this week will have a more lasting impact than any number of marching soldiers, gleaming tanks or flypasts on Tiananmen Square.
