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In Tianjin on 1 September, China’s Xi Jinping told visiting leaders that it’s time to “take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics” – a thinly veiled swipe at the US and President Trump – pitching the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a platform to launch a totally different world order. Russia’s Vladimir Putin, fresh from peace talks with Trump, said “NATO enlargement has to be addressed” before any real settlement can be discussed with Ukraine, and India’s Narendra Modi made his first trip to China in seven years. Modi affirmed that New Delhi and Moscow have always “walked shoulder to shoulder… even in the most difficult situations”, and is clearly open to thawing the relationship between India and China.
This convergence of world superpowers is a clear signal that they’re widening their room for manoeuvre against a system led by the West.
Superpowers Come Together: What Just Happened?
More than 20 non-Western leaders were invited by Xi to the summit, framed as a crossroads for “global governance” and urging attendees to reject a “cold war mentality”, “bloc confrontation” and “bullying behaviour”.
Modi and Putin arrived together warmly, telegraphing comfort and alignment among Asia’s heavyweight players to the rest of the world. For UK and US readers, these pictures make a big difference: it’s clear that tariff pressure and sanctions have not split this triangle. In fact, they may well have reinforced it.
Following the meeting, footage emerged of Putin thanking Xi – his “dear friend” – for the welcome, which only went to underscore the narrative that their ties are tightening. The messaging throughout this meeting and immediately after is clear: political solidarity, economic cooperation, and a shared critique of Western power.
China’s Agenda: Money, Tech, Infrastructure
Beyond the speeches, Xi Jinping revealed major infrastructure plans. He proposed an SCO development bank, offering 2 billion yuan ($280 million) in grants this year, lining up an additional 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in loans through an SCO banking consortium. Beijing will also create an AI cooperation centre and has invited partners to its lunar research station. These all point to a reduction in exposure to the dollar system and US sanctions, continuing towards technical and financial dominance independent of the West.
Rather than instant, these moves will be incremental. But with each expansion, China will further blunt the application of Western coercive tools in the region. New clearing routes, concessional loans and standards bodies will continue to tie Eurasian economies to China, reducing reliance on Washington, London and the rest of the world. For the US and UK in particular, the question will be about speed and uptake, and how long they have to react.
Putin’s Conditions: Peace Depends on NATO
After the talks with Xi and Modi, Putin argued that any “sustainable and long-term” settlement must include the elimination of the Ukraine war’s “root causes”, explicitly naming NATO’s eastward enlargement. He then praised Chinese and Indian efforts and looked to suggest an alliance architecture between their countries, which is exactly the linkage that many NATO capitals reject.
China and India are the two largest buyers of Russian crude oil and neither signalled any form of pullback in Tianjin, preserving hard-currency lifelines for Moscow and discounted barrels for Asian refiners. As long as the flows continue, Western sanctions have a dwindling effect on Russia, and only strengthens the bond between Eurasian countries. Western enforcement would need to lean on tougher secondary measures, which are politically costly at home, and technically more difficult as their alliance grows.
India Walks a Tightrope: Leverage in All Directions
Modi leaned into the historic partnership with Moscow, reminding onlookers that “India and Russia have always walked shoulder to shoulder”, and looked open to a reset with Beijing. India is balancing a relationship that provides energy, fertiliser, and defence ties with Russia; de-escalation with China; and continued market access and tech with the West.
However, as the summit played out, Trump castigated US-India trade as a “one-sided disaster”, citing tariffs and India’s Russian oil buys. For Beijing and Moscow, that contrast is useful as it draws India further away from Western supply and demand, with a reminder to Washington that increasing pressure on Delhi may actually prompt more hedging, not the alignment it seeks.
Iran Joins the Conversation: Western Sanctions Effectiveness
The summit widened beyond Europe. Both Russia and China joined Iran in formally rejecting UN sanctions on Tehran – led by the UK, France and Germany – labelling the European move “legally and procedurally flawed”. The joint letter was filed in Tianjin, deliberately displaying their willingness to challenge not just the Western line in Ukraine, but also the UN/US/UK’s enforcement tools in the Middle East.
For the UK, it’s a direct policy collision as London is one of the countries pushing for the “snap back” in Iran. For the US, it underscores a greater overall trend: sanctions and tariffs may show a bit of bite, but their sustained usage is encouraging opponents and rivals to find workarounds instead of coming back to the negotiating table.
How This Affects UK and US: Leverage, But No Treaty
To be clear, no military pact has been announced. Instead, what came of the summit was a statement of intent, and a seemingly complete alignment on direction of travel: alternative finance, a shared narrative blaming Western “hegemonism”, and coordinated linkages between dossiers (Ukraine, Iran) that dilute Western leverage and influence. And that’s more than enough to shift incentives for fence-sitting nations, and complicate Western planning.
Policy choices seem to have narrowed into two tracks. One is to double down on pressure with tariffs, export controls and tighter sanctions – which of course risks making India hedge harder than before, and giving other potential partners more reason to join Moscow and Beijing rather than depending on US-led systems. The other option seems to be selective engagement, keeping India on-side for tech supply chains and security, and tolerating the relative discomfort on energy flows without further increasing trade pressure.
Neither of these paths looks to be cost-free for the US and the West.
Final Thought
The map was not redrawn in Tianjin. But the centre of gravity appears to have shifted. Finance that skirts Western levers and currency, energy trade that benefits everyone but the West, and completely aligned public messaging that they will not submit to the “bullying” tactics of the US. For now, the West holds the stronger cards with reserve currency, global markets and technology depth – but the margins have narrowed now that rivals are building their own infrastructure and slowly but surely attracting new partners.
Perhaps now is time for strategy, rather than brute force.
Join the Conversation
Should Washington have leaned so heavily on tariffs and sanctions, or have they simply pushed the big players together? How will the UK respond now that Russia and China have backed Iran? Should DC and London try to keep India on-side despite buying Russia’s crude? Tell us where you think the West should draw the line, and where this might end up.
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Categories: Breaking News, World News
No. They are not taking a stand against Trump. They are standing up to the warmongers in Europe: NATO and the rest of the entities that fund and support the banking dynasties that run the show.
Hi JJK,
Do you not think Xi’s comments about the “bullying” behaviour from countries in the West, showing a “Cold War mentality”, are referencing Trump’s attempts to pressure China/Asia with economic tariffs and Russia with sanctions?
G Calder
Easy for the US to sanction Russia, to drive them closer to China and the others, but the UK and Europe have paid the economic price.
Was that his intention all along? Does he “secretly” see Europe as the bigger threat?
This is all about the Big Shift Coming that past president of the World Bank John Wolfenshon presented to Stanford Business student’s 16 years ago. This is the workings of the New World Order. The shift is to the BRICS nations along with some smaller countries. China has the CIPS system, SCO, One Belt One Road, Mainland China’s human surveillance platform of social credit scores, facial recognition, contact tracing,Led Smart Street Lights AI, algorithms, blockchain, 15 Minute Cities. China needs India to feed its population along with its self. Russia has all the untapped resources along with South Africa, and Brazil. Iran has the oil. These countries will continue to manufacture the value added products the rest of the world desires. Carbon Offsets, Carbon Infrastructure, Carbon Bond Market, and Central Bank Digital Currency will attempt to establish the Great Financial Reset. President Trump is part of this final agenda that the Crown Council of 13 and the Committee of 300 desire.