Chinas Xi Jinping welcomedon Sunday Russias Vladimir Putin, Indias Narendra Modi and leaders from around 20 countries to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, a high-security gathering aimed at boosting Beijings influence and promoting "a multipolar world order".

PresidentXi Jinpinggathered the leaders ofRussiaandIndiaamong dignitaries from around 20 Eurasian countries on Sunday for a showpiece summit aimed at puttingChinafront and centre of regional relations.

Security was tight in the northern port city of Tianjin, where the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit is being held until Monday, days before a massive military parade in the capitalBeijingto mark 80 years since the end ofWorld War II.

The SCO comprises China, India, Russia,Pakistan,Iran,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,UzbekistanandBelaruswith 16 more countries affiliated as observers or "dialogue partners".

Russian President Vladimir Putin touched down in Tianjin on Sunday with an entourage of senior politicians and business representatives.

Meanwhile Xi held a flurry of bilateral meetings with leaders from theMaldives,Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and one of Putin's staunch allies, Belarusian PresidentAlexander Lukashenko.

Xi also met India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, who arrived the evening before, in his first visit to China since 2018.

Modi told Xi that India was committed to taking "forward our ties on the basis of mutual trust, dignity and sensitivity", according to a video the Indian leaderpostedon X.

The two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia and fought a deadly border clash in 2020.

A thawbeganlast October, when Modi met with Xi for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.

"The interests of 2.8 billion people of both countries are linked to our cooperation. This will also pave the way for the welfare of the entire humanity," Modi told Xi.

The two sides should not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship", Xi said, adding that economic development for both countries should be their main focus.

As long as they remain committed to the overarching goal of being partners, not rivals, and providing development opportunities, not threats, China-India relations will flourish and move forward steadily," Xi said.

'A fairer multipolar world order'

China and Russia have sometimes touted the SCO as an alternative to theNATOmilitary alliance. This year's summit is the first since US PresidentDonald Trumpreturned to the White House.

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In an interview published by Xinhua on Saturday, Putin said the summit will "strengthen the SCO's capacity to respond to contemporary challenges and threats, and consolidate solidarity across the shared Eurasian space".

"All this will help shape a fairer multipolar world order," Putin said.

As China's claim overTaiwanand Russia's invasion ofUkrainehave seen them clash with the United States and Europe, experts say that Beijing and Moscow are eager to use platforms such as the SCO to curry favour.

"China has long sought to present the SCO as a non-Western-led power bloc that promotes a new type of international relations, which, it claims, is more democratic," said Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

More than 20 leaders including Iranian PresidentMasoud Pezeshkianand his Turkish counterpartRecep Tayyip Erdoganare attending the bloc's largest meeting since its founding in 2001.

"The large-scale participation indicates China's growing influence and the SCO's appeal as a platform for non-Western countries," Loh added.

Beijing, through the SCO, will try to "project influence and signal that Eurasia has its own institutions and rules of the game", said Lizzi Lee from the Asia Society Policy Institute.

"It is framed as something different, built around sovereignty, non-interference, and multipolarity, which the Chinese tout as a model," Lee told.

Discussions on the sidelines

Xi met leaders including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet in Tianjin on Saturday.

Putin is expected to hold talks on Monday with Turkey's Erdogan and Iran's Pezeshkian about the Ukraine conflict and Tehran's nuclear programme respectively.

The Russian president needs "all the benefits of SCO as a player on the world stage and also the support of the second largest economy in the world", said Lim Tai Wei, a professor and East Asia expert atJapan's Soka University.

"Russia is also keen to win over India, and India's trade frictions with the United States presents this opportunity," Lim said.

The summit comes days after India was hit by a sharp bump up in US tariffs on its goods as punishment forNew Delhi's purchases of Russian oil.

The summit comes days after India was hit by a sharp bump up in US tariffs on its goods as punishment for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil.

Many of the assembled leaders will be in Beijing on Wednesday to witness the military parade, which will also be attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Originally published on France24