Hartmut Bühl, European News Journal, Paris
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s dreams of establishing a new world order without American dominance and prioritising the “Global South” took tangible form at the 25th Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), bringing together more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries in Tianjin, China, from 31 August to 1 September 2025. Two days later, China’s largest ever and perfectly organised military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, celebrated the end of the Second World War 80 years ago and demonstrated to the world that China has become not only a global economic power but also a military superpower.
One image from the meeting in Tianjin stands out: Russian dictator Putin, for whom Trump had rolled out the red carpet in Anchorage two weeks earlier, walking hand in hand with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi toward Xi Jinping. After a warm greeting, all three laughed loudly, as if they were old friends. What and who were they laughing at?
It is US President Trump with his excessive and indecent tariff policy who has thrown India – long courted by the US as a counterweight to China – into the arms of Beijing, even though both states have territorial conflicts in their border areas and India is not a dictatorship like China or Russia, but a democracy. Modi appears to have decided to take on a leadership role in the Global South and stand with those who want to live without dependence on America. As the world’s most populous country, India is thus playing a key role in pushing Washington out of the spotlight.
However, the Indian leader did not attend the military parade. Instead, the world witnessed the first public meeting between China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Three dictators at the head of three nuclear powers.
It is far from certain that these new “friendships” will last. For sure, the Global South has gained momentum, but the interests of the different countries are too diverse. What unites them for now is that they are fed up with America and Western dominance. Not sure that Trump understands the message.
And what about the European Union in all this? Heads of state and government stayed away from the military parade in Bejing, but there were two black sheep: Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who flew to China and took their seats in the honorary gallery…
