China’s Xi, Russia’s Putin challenge world order at regional summit
- Russian President and Chinese President met with Asian leaders.
- There are India, Pakistan, four Central Asian countries as well as Iran and Turkey.
- Countries are sounding the alarm about deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing.
Samarkand: Russian President Vladimir Putin And Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for changing the world order when he met Asian leaders on Friday for a summit challenging Western influence.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in former Soviet Uzbekistan brought Putin and Xi Jinping together with leaders from India, a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Pakistanand the presidents of four Central Asian countries, as well as Iran and Turkey.
Putin and Xi met on Thursday for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine and the Chinese leader’s first overseas trip since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
The summit has been pitched as an alternative to “Western-centric organizations” at a time of increasing pressure on Moscow over Ukraine and growing anger in Beijing over US support for Taiwan.
Xi told leaders at the summit that it was time to reshape the international system and “abandon zero-sum games and bloc politics”.
Xi said leaders should work together to promote the development of the international system in a more fair and reasonable direction.
Putin praised the growing influence of countries outside the West, calling them “tools of protectionism, illegal sanctions and economic self-interest”.
Putin said the “increasing role of new centers of power that cooperate with each other … is becoming more evident”.
Negotiations with Turkey
The summit is Putin’s first major international visit since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February, sparking a conflict that has killed thousands and left Russia facing waves of economic sanctions. is lying
Xi said on Thursday that China was ready to work with Russia to support “each other’s core interests”, although Putin admitted that Beijing was “concerned” about the situation in Ukraine. They will fix it.
The SCO – which also includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – was established in 2001 as a political, economic and security organization to counter Western institutions.
In a sign that the bloc is not fully united, skirmishes on the borders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan escalated on Friday, with both sides accusing the other of responsibility and using heavy weapons.
Putin was due to meet later on Friday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been a key broker in deals between Russia and Ukraine on issues such as grain shipments.
Erdogan told leaders at the summit that efforts were being made to “finalize the Ukraine conflict through diplomacy as soon as possible”.
Xi met Erdogan on Friday, calling for more “political mutual trust” between the two countries and more cooperation on his signature Belt and Road global trade initiative.
Xi was scheduled to hold his first face-to-face talks with his Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi on Friday after Raisi met with Putin on Thursday.
US, Taiwan expressed concern.
For Xi, the summit was an opportunity to push his credentials as a world politician ahead of a key ruling Communist Party congress in October, where he is widely expected to seek a third term as president. You will get unprecedented success.
It was an opportunity for Putin to show that he is not completely isolated on the world stage, at a time when his forces in Ukraine are facing major battlefield setbacks.
Other countries have sounded the alarm about deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said China and Russia “share a vision for the world that is diametrically opposed to the vision at the center of the international system, the vision that has been at the center of the international system for the past eight years.” I am. Decades.”
He also noted Putin’s mention of Chinese “reservations” about Ukraine in his talks with Xi, suggesting the “impressive” admission showed Moscow had Beijing’s full support for its military campaign. do not have.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the two countries were harming “international peace, stability, democracy and freedom”.