China is increasingly stepping onto the world stage with an aim to lead a swath of the world in a new direction. Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Sunday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), where he is hosting leaders from Russia, Turkey, India, and other countries.
The main messaging from the summit is that these countries are working more closely together and that they claim a common vision. Among those visions is an assertion that they are pushing for peace and development around the world. This has ramifications for the world and the Middle East because these countries oppose wars such as the Israel-Hamas War.
According to Chinese state media, Xi says that his country “is shouldering greater responsibilities for safeguarding regional peace and stability and for boosting [the] development of various countries in a world of increasing uncertainties and accelerated changes. Xi made the remarks at a banquet to welcome international guests who are in China’s port city of Tianjin to attend the SCO Summit 2025 from Sunday to Monday,” the Xinhua news agency noted.
The report noted that in his address at the opening banquet, “Xi expressed confidence that with concerted efforts of all parties, the summit will be a complete success, and that the SCO is certain to play an even bigger role and achieve more progress, making greater contributions to boosting the unity and cooperation among member states, pooling the strength of the Global South, and pushing for more progress of human civilization.”
China and the other countries present are essentially pitching a new world order that they will lead. They think the curtain is closing on the US-led world order that began with the end of the Cold War in 1990. China seems to be increasingly muscular in asserting what it sees for the future.
Xinhua also reported, “Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) at the ‘Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus’ Meeting in Tianjin.”
Xi said, “I look forward to working with all countries for a more just and equitable global governance system and advancing toward a community with a shared future for humanity.”
China's global initiative
The Chinese leader believes this new global initiative will have five principles that include sovereign equality, international rule of law, multilateralism, a people-centered approach, and a focus on taking real actions.
This could have ramifications if these countries choose to do more to step up their actions relating to conflicts such as the one in Gaza. Israel has felt empowered by the recent war after defeating Hezbollah and also bombing Iran. For instance, it has been striking Syria since the fall of the Assad regime.
Turkey, Iran, and many other countries oppose these attacks. This means that Israel’s current sense of empowerment, backed by the US administration, could set it on a collision course with the emerging new world order. China, Turkey, Iran, and other states may eventually work to put down redlines around Israel and end the conflicts that are taking place on the Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza borders.
Turkey, for instance, opposes Israel’s policies. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Chinese counterpart on Sunday. Xinhua noted, “‘China and Turkey are both emerging major countries with a spirit of independence,’ Xi said, adding that the high-level development of bilateral relations serves the fundamental interests of both countries as well as the common interests of the Global South.”
Clearly, this is messaging aimed at the US and the West. Eventually, Turkey will benefit from this and see its policies gain more weight.
For now, though, many of these countries are continuing to bide their time and wait for their moment. Biding time and growing strength quietly has been China’s motto for decades. The world is changing, and the SCO meeting in 2025 is one of the key pieces of evidence of that change.