China's Xi Jinping Seeks to Challenge US Leadership at SCO Meeting

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on regional leaders, including Russia's Vladimir Putin and India's Narendra Modi, to join China in leveraging their economic influence to challenge the US-led international order. Xi emphasized the importance of promoting an orderly multi-polar world, championing free trade, and establishing a more just and reasonable global governance system. This marks a clear challenge to the current US-led system, with Beijing seeking to demonstrate its commitment to global governance and stability. Xi's initiatives also aim to reshape the narrative of China's role in World War II, downplaying the US contribution and highlighting China's central role in the war of resistance against Japan.

Key Takeaways:

• Xi Jinping has proposed a "global governance initiative" founded on principles including sovereign equality, international rule of law, and multilateralism, aimed at competing with the US-led international order.
• The initiative is the fourth in a series of Chinese policy frameworks that also cover development, security, and "civilisation" and are intended to appeal to developing countries and erode the dominance of US and western global power.
• China has announced plans to create an SCO development bank and has outlined plans for Beijing to make loans and grants to countries in the grouping, marking an effort to promote regional peace, stability, and prosperity.
• Xi Jinping has sought to reinterpret the international order and advance China's ambition of a multi-polar world, using the 80th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II as a vehicle for this narrative.
• China has become more aggressive towards Taiwan since 2015, and has linked its sovereignty claims over the island to the UN's 1971 "derecognition" of Taiwan's KMT government to support Beijing's sovereignty claim.
• Experts acknowledge China's immense sacrifices during World War II, but argue that the Pacific war between the US and Japan was decisive in ending the war.
• Xi's efforts to change the narrative of the war are primarily aimed at a domestic audience and partners in the global south, not the US and its allies.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting has provided a platform for China to showcase its military hardware and to demonstrate its commitment to regional peace and stability.
• Xi Jinping has held numerous bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, including with Putin and Modi, and will meet Putin today.

Statistics:

• 80 years since Japan's defeat in World War II, marking a milestone that China will commemorate tomorrow.
• Over 20 leaders, including those of Iran, Myanmar, and Pakistan, attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Tianjin.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has 8 member states: China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• China has announced plans to create an SCO development bank, aimed at promoting regional peace, stability, and prosperity.
• 4 Chinese policy frameworks that also cover development, security, and "civilisation" have been proposed by Xi Jinping.
• 2 Allied wartime arrangements, the Cairo and Potsdam declarations, are cited by China as justification for its sovereignty claims over Taiwan.
• 1951 Treaty of San Francisco is cited by the US as the basis for its claims to Taiwan, while Beijing rejects this treaty.
• Xi Jinping has held over 20 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO summit, including with Putin and Modi.

Sources:

• Xi Jinping, Chinese President
• Vladimir Putin, Russian President
• Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister
• Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister
• David Bandurski, Director of the China Media Project
• Amanda Hsiao, Director for China at consultancy Eurasia Group
• Rana Mitter, China historian
• Kainan Gao and Margaret Pearson, Brookings Institution
• Chang Wu-Ueh, Director of the Center for Cross-Strait Relations at Taiwan's Tamkang University