China’s Xi Jinping has set out plans for a new world order to challenge the dominance of the US-led West.

At a summit attended by the strongman leaders of Russia and India, Mr Xi lashed out at the “bullying behaviour” and “Cold War mentality” of other countries – which appeared to be an attack on Donald Trump and his tariff war against Beijing and its allies.

He called for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to expand its role, touting its “mega-scale market”, at the annual meeting of more than 20 non-Western leaders in Tianjin, in northern China.

“Global governance has reached a new crossroads,” Mr Xi told leaders including Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, Narendra Modi of India, and Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president.

“The shadows of Cold War mentality, bullying, are not dissipating, and there are new challenges that are increasing, not diminishing,” Mr Xi said at the summit.

China and the US hit each other with tariffs of more than 100 per cent before agreeing to lower them temporarily while trade negotiations take place.

President Trump has threatened Putin with crippling tariffs if a peace deal with Ukraine is not agreed, and slapped India with a 50 per cent tariff, one of the world’s highest, for buying discounted Russian crude oil.

Mr Xi said at the summit: “We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics, and practise true multilateralism.”

Putin and Mr Modi held hands as they walked side-by-side to greet Mr Xi before the trio huddled, laughing before the photographers.

“All countries, regardless of size, strength or wealth, should equally participate in, decide on and benefit from global governance,” the Chinese president said before sketching out his vision for an alternative world order that prioritised the “global South”.

Underlining his intention to maximise Chinese influence in poorer nations, Mr Xi announced plans for an SCO-run development bank, a cooperation platform for green and energy industries and $1.4bn (£1.3bn) in loans over the next three years to SCO members.

Mr Xi also said he was opening the way for the ten SCO member states to use China’s BeiDou satellite system, an alternative to the US-controlled GPS.

His comments were speedily welcomed by Putin, a pariah in the West who enjoys a “friendship without limits” alliance with Mr Xi.

Putin said Mr Xi’s vision laid the foundation for a “new system of stability and security in Eurasia”.

“This security system, unlike Euro-centric and Euro-Atlantic models, would genuinely consider the interests of a broad range of countries, be truly balanced, and would not allow one country to ensure its own security at the expense of others,” he said.

Western sanctions on Russia since the illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have made Putin dependent on China, and India, for sales of Russian crude oil.

The West accuses China and India of funding Putin’s war machine in Ukraine by buying the oil.

Putin wants trade settlement mechanisms that avoid the US dollar and euro, after Western sanctions on payment systems and Chinese banks hit Russian trade and called on SCO to sell joint bonds.

“All this will increase the effectiveness of our economic exchanges and protect them from fluctuations in the external environment,” Putin said in a speech where he blamed the West for the war in Ukraine.

“This crisis wasn’t triggered by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but was a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West,” he said.

“The second reason for the crisis is the West’s constant attempts to drag Ukraine into Nato,” Putin said. He also claimed he wanted peace, thanking Mr Modi and Mr Xi for their efforts to end the war, and said he had reached “understandings” with Mr Trump at the Alaska summit.

He also praised Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, the sole Nato leader at the summit, for his mediation efforts after the men held bilateral talks.

Relations between Washington and New Delhi are strained over the US tariffs, some of the highest in the world, and also Mr Trump’s claims to have ended India’s conflict with Pakistan.

India defends the oil imports as necessary to meet the needs of 1.4 billion people and insists it is not profiteering from the war.

Meanwhile, Putin gave Mr Modi – who has moved to repair relations with China after a long-running border feud – a lift to the venue for their bilateral talks in his armour plated limousine.

The two men spoke alone in the car for a further 50 minutes in a conversation described in Russia as “only for their ears” and by Mr Modi as “insightful”.

The Indian leader said the relationship with Moscow was “special and privileged.” Putin called him a  “dear friend” on the second day of the SCO summit.

The SCO, set up in 2001, is the successor to the Shanghai Five, a grouping of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, set up in 1996. It now also includes India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus and Uzbekistan.

Iran, China and Russia signed a joint letter on Monday to the United Nations, calling a European attempt to invoke “snapback” sanctions on Iran legally baseless and politically destructive.

Putin will stay on in China to be the “main guest” at a military parade on Wednesday, in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, will also be a guest of honour at the parade, which will unveil a series of ship-killing hypersonic missiles in a thinly-veiled warning to the West.

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China's Xi Hosts Modi and Putin Amid Anger Over Tariffs

China’s President Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit on Sunday, in a rare gathering of the three global leaders where Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime is set to feature heavily.

It was Modi’s first visit to India's longtime regional rival in seven years, and comes at a time when both countries are facing steep tariffs from the U.S. Just days before the summit, the White House doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% in response to India's continued purchase of Russian oil.

The summit featured subtle digs at Trump's tariffs and an effort by Xi to boost his global leadership credentials while Washington is engaged in bitter trade battles with friends and foes alike.

The U.S. has sought better relations with India for years in the hope that New Delhi could act as a bulwark against China’s rising economic and military power, but some analysts now speculate that Trump’s tariffs may have pushed Modi closer to Beijing.

Xi told Modi that the world's two most populous countries should see each other as “partners rather than rivals” when they met on Sunday at the two-day security summit in Tianjin, in northern China.

He added that China and India “must deepen mutual trust, and make opportunities for each other's development rather than threats,” in what may have been a subtle reference to Trump’s tariff regime.

Modi said that “should pursue strategic autonomy, and their relations should not be seen through a third country lens,” and confirmed that direct flights between India and China would resume after a five-year hiatus.

A breakdown in ties

The Trump Administration has blamed India’s purchase of Russian oil for a breakdown in ties with the U.S. Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro has attacked India’s Russian oil purchases as “opportunistic and deeply corrosive”.

The tariff regime has caused anger in India. In his first comments since the 50% tariffs were introduced, India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said Friday that India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak”.

But recent reporting in the New York Times suggests that Modi’s refusal to accept Trump’s claims that he brokered a peace between India and Pakistan in a recent outbreak of fighting, and a refusal to nominate the U.S. president for a Nobel Peace Prize, may have been partly responsible for ties unravelling.

Modi’s move towards China might be seen as a strategic blow to the U.S., but the summit is likely aimed at boosting Xi’s position as a global leader and countering Western influence in global affairs. While the U.S. is engaged in trade battles with both allies and rivals, China is promoting economic cooperation with emerging economies like Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan.

Putin said ahead of his visit that the summit would “consolidate solidarity” among the attending nations and “help shape a fairer multipolar world order”.

The Russian president will stay on after the summit to attend a military parade in Beijing on the theme of the Second World War, which will showcase the country’s latest missiles and equipment.

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China's President Jinping Xi on Monday told Eurasian bloc nations to unite against a global order led by the United States during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit about 80 miles from Beijing.

The gathering of 26 world leaders in the port city of Tianjin included the three largest powers not aligned with the West: Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two-day summit ended Monday.

"Concluding a productive visit to China, where I attended the SCO Summit and interacted with various world leaders," Modi posted on X. "Also emphasised India's stand on key global issues. Thankful to President Xi Jinping, the Chinese government and people for the successful organisation of this Summit."

In another post, Modi said he "had an excellent meeting with President Putin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Tianjin. Discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in all sectors, including trade, fertilisers, space, security and culture. We exchanged views on regional and global developments, including the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. Our Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership remains a vital pillar of regional and global stabilibility."

The three leaders held hands at the beginning of the meeting.

"It is a testament of the depth and breadth of our 'Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership' that even in the most difficult times India and Russia have stood shoulder to shoulder," Modi told Putin.

Putin said the SCO "unlike Euro-centric and Euro-Atlantic models, would genuinely consider the interests of a broad range of countries, be truly balanced, and would not allow one country to ensure its own security at the expense of others."

Modi's bonds with the United States have been strained after President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on most imported goods from the Asian nation.

Trump responded on Truth Social.

"What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us," Trump wrote. "Until now a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades. The reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high Tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India. It has been a totally one sided disaster! Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the U.S. They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it's getting late. They should have done so years ago. Just some simple facts for people to ponder!!!"

Xi has attempted to form a relationship with India, which has been aligned the United States.

He didn't name Trump in urging the nations to find common ground.

"We should advocate for equal and orderly multi-polarization of the world, inclusive economic globalization and promote the construction of a more just and equitable global governance system," Xi said in his opening address, adding "we must take advantage of the mega-scale market."

The foreign ministers included India's neighboring rival, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and those more aligned with Putin and Xi: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Also on hand was United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

"If one creates a vacuum, someone else will come and fill it," Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the University of London, told Newsweek: "Xi has a good reason to say: 'Thank you President Trump, you're doing a great job in making China great again.'"

Carla Freeman, director of the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, told The Washington Post the group is "united in a sense of aggrievement with the U.S. rather than a sense of common purpose. These are big countries with their own agendas."

China has contributed $84 billion to the nations aligned with the bloc and another $1.4 billion in loans over the next three years, Xi said.

China and Russia founded the SCO in 2001, decades before Trump's trade and foreign policies had led to global tensions.

"There is significant instability in the region and internationally, whether it's the Russia-Ukraine conflict or the situation in the Middle East, Zhu Yongbiao, an international relations scholar at Lanzhou University in northwest China, told The Washington Post. "Virtually all nations now have more security concerns."

The bloc has grown from six to 10 nations with India and Pakistan joining in 2017. Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are among 14 dialogue partners. Mongolia and Afghanistan are observers, along with Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's Taliban government, which has had the support of China, wasn't at the gathering, as U.N. sanctions ban its leaders from traveling internationally.

The group amounts to 40% of the 8.1 million world's population, including around 1.4 billion each in China and India. Russia has about 144 million residents.

The bloc counters the Group of Seven of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States. Russia used to be part of the alliance until March 2014 after its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Russia subsequently invaded Russia in 2022.

With India and China neighboring countries, Xi said border differences should not define the overall relationship. He urged "peace and tranquility" rather than tensions, including clashes in 2020.

Before the summit, Modi visited Japan.

Modi said "the relationship should not be seen through a third country lens," likely a reference to Beijing's efforts to exploit tensions with Trump.

Modi told Putin that "1.4 billion Indians are waiting with excitement" to welcome him in New Delhi in December.

Putin is aligned with China but noted his summit with Trump in Alaska two weeks ago to work toward peace in Ukraine.

But conversely, he repeated claims that West is at fault for the war.

Some leaders were expected to be on hand on Wednesday for China's commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will attend but Modi will not.

Xi called on countries to "promote a correct understanding of World War II history."