“No mountain or ocean can distance people who have shared aspirations,” China’s President Xi Jinping said in July 2024, addressing leaders from fellow Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states, and a few other nations, in Astana, Kazakhstan.At the time, the ancient Chinese saying in Xi’s speech seemed over the top, and divorced from reality: Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, one of the SCO’s major members, wasn’t even attending the grouping’s summit, citing a parliament session – an apparent snub to the bloc long driven by Beijing and Moscow.Yet a year later, the geopolitical landscape looks very different: As China prepares to host the annual SCO summit starting Sunday, it is expecting a fuller house than ever of leaders from the region and beyond. Modi will visit China for the first time since 2018, amid a rapprochement that began late last year but has been propelled further by United States President Donald Trump’s 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods, which have forced New Delhi to seek stronger partnerships with Beijing and other players in Eurasia.At a time when much of the world is grappling with the chaos unleashed by Trump’s tariffs and threats, analysts expect …
