Trump Snubs Quad, Fuels SCO’s Rise as Xi, Putin, Modi Send Bold Message
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) just got a major boost, and Washington isn’t thrilled. At the latest SCO summit in China, the sight of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi sharing laughs and holding hands sent a clear message: this bloc is no longer a paper tiger.
The shift comes as former US President Donald Trump, once the loudest voice backing the Quad alliance of the US, India, Japan, and Australia, appears to have moved on. Reports of him cancelling his India visit for this year’s Quad summit have left the grouping looking adrift.
Meanwhile, China has seized the moment. For Xi, the SCO is now a stage to project Beijing as a stabilizing force for the Global South — a counterweight to US-led economic and security influence. And for countries grappling with Trump’s trade wars and tariff chaos, that message is starting to resonate.
Predictably, the optics rattled Washington. Hours after the summit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to dismiss the gathering as “largely performative,” even branding India and China as “bad actors” for their ties with Russia. Still, he admitted the US hopes to strengthen long-term relations with India, calling it the “most populous democracy” with values closer to the West.
The irony? Just seven years ago, the Quad’s revival had Beijing worried, with Chinese officials warning it was a direct challenge to their Indo-Pacific ambitions. But with the emergence of AUKUS in 2021 and now Trump’s apparent disinterest, the Quad’s future looks uncertain – even irrelevant.
For now, it’s Xi who’s capitalizing. The SCO, once written off, is now making headlines – and Washington knows it.
