SCO summit in Uzbekistan: Xi, Putin contest West-based order

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping yesterday called for a shake-up of the world order as they met with Asian leaders for a summit challenging Western influence.

The meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan brought Putin and Xi together with the leaders of SCO members India, Pakistan, and four Central Asian nations, as well as the presidents of 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 on the Chinese leader's first trip abroad since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

The summit has been put forward as an alternative to "Western-centric organisations", 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".

Leaders should "work together to promote the development of the international order in a more just and rational direction," Xi said.

Putin hailed the growing influence of countries outside the West, slamming what he called "instruments of protectionism, illegal sanctions and economic selfishness".

"The growing role of new centres of power who cooperate with each other... is becoming more and more clear," Putin said.

The summit has been Putin's first major international outing since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February, sparking a conflict that has left thousands dead and seen Russia hit with waves of economic sanctions.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on leaders of the bloc to address energy and food crises sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, reports Reuters.

He told Putin that now is not a time for war, with food, fertiliser and fuel security among the major concerns of the world at present. The Russian president said he wanted the conflict in Ukraine to end as soon as possible, but that Ukraine was set on achieving its objectives on the battlefield.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also told leaders at the summit that efforts were being made "to finalise the conflict in Ukraine through diplomacy as soon as possible".

For Xi, the summit was an opportunity to shore up his credentials as a global statesman ahead of a pivotal congress of the ruling Communist Party in October, where he is widely expected to secure an unprecedented third term as president.

For Putin, it was a chance to show that he is not fully isolated on the global scene, at a time when his forces in Ukraine are facing major battlefield setbacks.

Other nations sounded alarm about deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing.

Taiwan's foreign ministry, meanwhile, said the two countries were inflicting harm on "international peace, stability, democracy and freedom".