TIANJIN, China (AP) — China plans to accelerate the creation of a development bank and set up an international platform for energy cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Monday at a summit that represents an emerging challenge to U.S. global leadership with the participation of Russia and India.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the leaders meeting in Tianjin, in northern China, for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The security forum was originally seen as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia and has grown in size and influence over the years.
Xi is attempting to expand the scope of the SCO. He announced initial plans for a development bank run by the organization, introduced a cooperation platform for green and energy industries and pledged $1.4 billion in loans over the next three years to the organization’s members.
Xi also said he was opening the way for SCO member states to use China’s BeiDou satellite system, an alternative to the GPS system controlled by the U.S.
Putin expressed support for Xi’s initiatives, saying he believes the SCO “could take on the leading role in efforts to form a more just and equal system of global governance in the world.”
Laos joined the SCO as a partner, a designation short of full membership, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters. The combined group of members and partners has reached 27, representing countries in Central and Southeast Asia, along with China, India, Russia, Iran and others.
China on message
Xi stressed countries should reject Cold War thinking, rival power blocs and bullying and instead protect the U.N.-centered international system. He called for a world order with multiple power centers and a more just and balanced global governance system.
“The shadows of Cold War mentality, bullying, are not dissipating, and there are new challenges that are increasing, not diminishing,” said Xi, who has consistently spoken against what he calls a Cold War mentality, which is his way of referring to the tough approach to China by the U.S.
“The world has entered a new period of tumultuous change and global governance has arrived at a new crossroads,″ he said.
Alfred Wu, a professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, explained that Xi is seeking “to provide an alternate world order, because the U.S.-led world order is very much in decline.”
Putin echoed those themes in his own address and expressed support for Xi’s proposal “to create a new, more effective and functional system of global governance.”
Founded in 2001, the SCO now includes Russia, Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observer states, and 14 other countries, including several from the Middle East, serve as “dialogue partners.”
The summit comes days ahead of a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender.
Regional relationships
On Sunday, Xi met with Modi and the two leaders vowed to resolve differences surrounding a border dispute, which led to a freeze in relations in 2020.
Putin arrived for the summit Sunday and will attend the parade Wednesday. Modi will not stay for the parade.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who did not attend the SCO summit, will be present for the military parade, along with the leader of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
Putin spoke to Xi on Sunday, ahead of the bilateral talks the two were scheduled to hold Tuesday. He updated the Chinese leader on the Russia-U.S. talks on the Ukraine war which were held in Alaska last month.
Development policy has been a large part of the messaging in recent days. Putin, in an interview released Saturday by China’s news agency Xinhua, said Russia and China were jointly “against discriminatory sanctions” that hurt the socioeconomic development of the world at large.
Russia, alongside its Chinese partners, supports the reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, he said.
“It is essential to end the use of finance as an instrument of neocolonialism, which runs counter to the interests of the global majority,” Putin said.
Security is still key
While China is eager for the SCO to take a larger role on the global stage, it remains to be seen how effective the organization can be. Its focus in the past has been on propping up the security initiatives of its member states. China said it is effective in combating terrorism, separatism and extremism.
Those threats are what Beijing cited after it swept more than 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and members of other largely Muslim minorities into camps, prisons, and other detention facilities in 2018.
“Their anti-terrorism exercises are more about countering threats to authoritarian regimes rather than countering terrorism in its own right,” said Derek Grossman, a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California.
Even if the SCO summit’s reach and influence is ultimately limited, one thing is clear, he said: “China is on a diplomatic uptick and the U.S. is self destructing.”
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Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
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