Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday emphasised the need to oppose a ‘Cold War’ mentality and bloc confrontations, and advocated against bullying practices in international relations during his speech at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

Delivering a speech during the plenary session of the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, Xi criticised ‘bullying behaviour’ in the world order as he gathered regional leaders for a summit.

What did Xi Jinping say?

Xi asked the global leaders, including PM Modi and Putin, to “adhere to fairness and justice… oppose Cold War mentality, camp confrontation, and bullying behaviour.”

A veiled attack on Trump?

Although he did not name Trump but appeared to take a veiled attack on him amid the tariffs imposed by the United States.

The Chinese President told the leaders, as quoted by AFP, “The current international situation is becoming chaotic and intertwined. The security and development tasks facing member states have become even more challenging.”

On the ‘Shanghai spirit’

Speaking on the essence of the SCO grouping, Xi said, “As early as 24 years ago, when it was founded, the SCO established the Shanghai spirit that is mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilisations and pursuit of common development.”

“ We were the first to set up a military confidence-building mechanism in our border areas, turning our extensive borders into a bond of friendship, mutual trust and cooperation. We were the first to take multilateral actions against the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism. We steadily promoted law enforcement and security cooperation…” Xi noted.

“Looking back, despite tumultuous times, we have achieved success by practicing the Shanghai spirit,” he said, referring to the name of the group.

“Looking to the future, with the world undergoing turbulence and transformation, we must continue to follow the Shanghai spirit, keep our feet on the ground, forge ahead, and better perform the functions of the organisation,” he added.

According to the details, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is gathering for a two-day summit in Tianjin. It comprises China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, while 16 more countries are affiliated as observers or ‘dialogue partners’.

(This is a developing story. Check back for updates.)