The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2025 in China was one of the most significant geopolitical gatherings in recent years.
Yet instead of emerging as a defining moment, the summit became a missed opportunity, largely because of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s confrontational conduct, misplaced priorities, and provocative statements that derailed the possibility of a unified SCO declaration and weakened the bloc’s collective response to Western dominance. The SCO Summit was convened at a critical moment in global geopolitics.
The world today faces unprecedented instability: Trump’s aggressive tariff regime has weaponized global trade, disrupting supply chains and punishing economies, including India, China, and Russia.
In South Asia, India and Pakistan recently faced a dangerous military confrontation that brought the region to the brink of a devastating war, averted only by a ceasefire that saved thousands of lives.
In Europe, the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to destabilize global energy markets, while Trump’s attempts at mediation have thus far failed.
In East Asia, the United States has escalated tensions with China by establishing long- and short-range missile facilities in Japan and creating a defensive ring stretching across the South China Sea and Pacific, posing a direct strategic threat to Beijing.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Israel’s relentless campaign in Gaza and the West Bank has resulted in widespread displacement, civilian casualties, and annexation of Palestinian lands, sparking outrage across Asia and beyond.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is a former Press Secretary to the President, An ex-Press Minister at Embassy of Pakistan to France, a former MD, SRBC Macomb, Detroit, Michigan