Putin, Xi, and Modi meet in virtual summit
Display no sign of greater unity versus US, West
The leaders represented the three biggest powers bidding to reshape a global order dominated by the United States, convening over video feeds at a virtual summit meeting on Tuesday. But beyond the unity implied by their joint appearance, each seemed focused on his own, different aim.
For President Vladimir Putin of Russia, that meant projecting strength in the aftermath of the uprising by the Wagner mercenary group and claiming international support for his invasion of Ukraine. For China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, the summit was another opportunity to assail the United States by calling for an end to “hegemonism” and “power politics.”
And for India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, the meeting’s host, it was a way to signal his country’s rising stature — and to land a thinly veiled jab at its archrival, Pakistan, by calling for other nations to unite in a “fight against terrorism.”
The annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization offered no dramatic statement of changing alliances in the leaders’ prepared remarks. But the forum — which was established by China and Russia in 2001 and includes Pakistan and the Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — did provide a glimpse of how a regional club formed to counter Western influence might navigate its members’ competing priorities.
There was no mention of the mounting friction between China and India, which has driven the historically nonaligned India closer to the United States.
And if Putin had hoped that his fellow leaders might issue resounding statements of support to ease his weakened position at home and to defend his war in Ukraine, he had to settle for general optics and warm tones instead.
More important, with the Biden administration and much of the rest of the world watching, the forum fundamentally seemed to be a statement that the three leaders were in control of their domestic issues and prepared to usher in what Putin called a new “multipolar” world.
No leader on Tuesday had a greater need to recast his image than Putin, who faced the biggest challenge to his more than two-decade rule last month when Wagner mercenary forces tried to topple Russia’s military leadership. While Putin was able to defuse the crisis by agreeing to allow mercenary leader Yegveny Prigozhin to leave for Belarus, the brief insurrection raised questions about his authority and future.
Speaking at his first international forum since the mutiny, Putin thanked the member states for their backing after the uprising, which he claimed had no popular support in Russia.
He also sought to cast the summit as a sign of support for his war in Ukraine. Nowhere is that support more important than from China, the only major nation to provide Russia with diplomatic and economic cover. China has done so because it has made a long-term bet on Putin as a necessary partner to challenge the United States.