TIANJIN – With motorcades sweeping down flag-draped boulevards and police presence at every junction, Tianjin over the past 24 hours got its turn in the geopolitical spotlight: More than 20 world leaders converging in the northern port city as China pitches itself as an alternative to the US-led international order.
On the morning of Aug 31, the first day of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, China rolled out the red carpet at the Tianjin airport to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose last visit to China was in May 2024.
Similar diplomatic pageantry greeted leaders who had arrived the day before, among them Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
The annual summit will last two days.
On Tianjin’s main streets, curious residents gathered at barricades, hoping for a glimpse of the motorcades of Chinese and visiting leaders as they swept past.
On the evening of Aug 30, a crowd had formed outside the Tianjin Meijiang convention centre, with people snapping photos with the brightly lit SCO sign that marked the summit venue.
On Aug 31, Chinese President Xi Jinping held eight bilateral meetings with the leaders of the Maldives, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, India and Vietnam.
This was a continuation of the rapid-fire diplomacy he began the day before the summit opened, when he met five leaders from Kazakhstan, Egypt, Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal, as well as the United Nations secretary-general.
Of the meetings on Aug 31, the most closely watched one was
as New Delhi and Beijing seek to dial down tensions following their deadly border clashes in 2020.
Mr Xi and his wife, Ms Peng Liyuan, also hosted a welcome banquet for guest attending the summit.
Beyond the pageantry, the SCO summit underscores Beijing’s effort to project inclusivity and present the bloc as a multilateral organisation through small but deliberate details, even as critics say the summit is all optics and no substance.
The official SCO website, communication materials and even the media centre cafeteria menu were available in Chinese, English and Russian.
The inclusion of Russian is likely a nod to the prominence of Moscow’s “large and significant” delegation, according to Chinese state media Global Times quoting the Russian side, but it also caters to the press from Central Asian countries.
Ahead of his arrival in Tianjin, Mr Putin praised the China-Russia partnership as a “stabilising force” for the world, in a written interview for Chinese state media Xinhua on Aug 30.
He added that the summit will “strengthen the SCO’s capacity to respond to contemporary challenges and threats, and consolidate solidarity across the shared Eurasian space”, which will help shape a fairer multipolar world order.
At the media centre, prayer rooms were set up to cater to the press from Muslim-majority member states in Central and South-east Asia.
Big TV screens in the media centre looped Tianjin tourism videos as well as collages of ethnic songs and dances by “China’s friends” such as Iran, Russia and Uzbekistan.
Yet the quest for inclusivity was not without missteps. An all-day snack corner served up beef burgers, much to the disappointment of many Indian reporters who are Hindus and do not eat beef for religious reasons.
In a concession China typically makes when hosting international events, the Wi-Fi at the media centre and in hotels housing foreign reporters bypassed the “great firewall”, giving them access to normally blocked websites and apps like Google, Instagram and WhatsApp, after logging on with their personal details.
Chinese reporters do not get the same access.
The temporary relaxation of its tight internet rules underscored how Beijing calibrates control of the digital environment during high-profile gatherings, even as it seeks to project openness and hospitality.
The press itself became part of the spectacle, as local journalists sought out foreign counterparts for interviews about their impressions of the SCO, China and thoughts about their country’s bilateral relations, and vice versa. A Chinese reporter, for instance, was spotted singing an Indian song for an interview with an Indian media outlet.
In the lead-up to the SCO, local media went all out.
China Media Group, the parent company of CCTV and CGTN, stationed a bright “China Red” mobile broadcasting van at Tianjin railway station, offering a rotating outdoor set along the Haihe River as part of its blanket coverage.
China also used the summit to showcase its technological edge. A humanoid robot fielded questions alongside the human volunteers at the media centre’s main help desk. Others performed Chinese calligraphy, swirled ice cream, and roved the centre offering bottled water.
Founded in 2001 as a security grouping of six Eurasian nations – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – the SCO has since expanded to include India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus. It also counts two observer states and 14 dialogue partners.
While initially focused on security and counter-terrorism, the SCO has since broadened its agenda to include economic, trade, energy and cultural cooperation.
China has billed the 2025 summit as the SCO’s largest yet, setting the stage for Beijing to position itself as a reliable and stable superpower, at a time when US President Donald Trump is shaking up his country’s alliances and waging a global trade war.
Tianjin is the fourth Chinese city to host the SCO summit, after Shanghai, Beijing and Qingdao. Except for Beijing, the other three are major port cities in China.
The summit also comes days ahead of a Sept 3 grand military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, featuring its latest and most advanced weaponry to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Many of the heads of state and delegations from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and South-east Asia who are in Tianjin for the summit will stay on and travel to Beijing for the parade.
