Beijing’s relationship with Moscow will be at the forefront of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) summit in China this weekend.
As Russian strikes continue to rain down on Ukraine and European calls for further sanctions on the Kremlin grow, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will attend the event in the Chinese city of Tianjin with around 20 other world leaders.
The meeting will include representatives from the 10 European and Asian member states of the SCO, a body which styles itself as an alternative to the US-led world order.
It comprises China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The summit comes at a difficult time for some of these countries, with the US President Donald Trump recently imposing 50% tariffs on India, largely over New Delhi’s decision to continue buying Russian oil.
As well as world trade tensions caused by the Trump administration’s foreign policies, there are also concerns about the potential escalation of the war in Europe’s east, more than three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
China’s stance on Russia and Ukraine
Speaking after the Russian bombing of central Kyiv earlier this week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun highlighted the importance of dialogue.
“Dialogue and negotiation is the only viable solution to the Ukrainian crisis. We call on all parties concerned to respect that the battlefield does not spill over,” he said in Beijing on Thursday.
However, while saying that Russia’s ongoing all-out war in Ukraine has to end through diplomatic means, China continues to grant Moscow vital economic and political support.
According to the EU, China is the largest provider of dual-use goods and sensitive items that sustain Russia’s military industrial base and are found on the battlefield.
The bloc’s diplomatic service (EEAS) has previously said that ”without China’s support for Moscow, Russia would not be able to continue its war of aggression against Ukraine with the same force”.
Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) told Euronews that Beijing’s messaging on the war was straightforward.
“China has been very clear, both officially and unofficially, that they want to see the conflict end, but they don’t want to see Russia isolated either. And if you speak to the Ukrainians, they will tell you that they have no concerns with China.”
A reset of China-India relations?
Another key aspect of the summit will be the possible reset of relations between China and India, following Trump’s tariffs on New Delhi.
Lee-Makiyama said that although ”resolving the (war) is not as high a priority for the Chinese and Indians as it is for Europeans“, a dangerous further military escalation in eastern Europe could, in the eyes of Delhi and Beijing, make global trade tensions worse.
After the SCO summit, Putin and some of the other leaders will attend a military parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan.
The only EU leader expected to attend is Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who will be joined by Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia, which is one of the candidate countries for membership in the bloc.