2025 Tianjin SCO summit a declaration of propaganda war against the West?

What happened in China around the Shanghai Cooperation summit 2025 was not only a conference. Together with the additional Chinese military parade and the invitation of autocratic politicians from all over the world, but also European populists, it became clear that they united behind one unwritten slogan: „the new world order is incoming, either you are part of it, obey it, or you will cease to exist“
From Dietmar Pichler

No matter how many times the BRICS Plus or SCO leaders claim that their unification of forces is not „anti Western“ but just „not Western“ and in favor of a „multipolar world“, the truth is obvious, and all the anti Western propaganda channels on social media and beyond show that.
When we look at Prime Minister Modi and how he warmly and publicly greeted the dictator of Belarus Lukashenko, even featuring him on X, we see it is not only about „realpolitik“ but about the formation of all kinds of anti Western actors, no matter how criminal they are.
For years China friendly sinologists, lobbyists or former diplomats told us that „China is a productive broker“ regarding the Russian invasion, that they are „neutral“ and that we should follow their lead. Meanwhile China obviously benefited from the situation and also supports Russia in the propaganda sphere. The same goes for India, a close economic partner of Russia, especially in the energy sphere, and in Indian media also not reluctant to spread pro Russian narratives. Now we saw Modi, Xi Jinping and Putin in close harmony in many photos from the summit, and still some „analysts“ and commentators in the West are able to distort this reality. They claim „the West brought them together“, pointing to the fact that China and India are reportedly getting closer at this summit.

Yes of course, recent tariff discussions can accelerate certain developments, but one of the biggest mistakes Westerners have made for decades is that they blame all worldwide developments on the West. Somehow it must always be the fault of the West. All countries outside the West are just „reacting“ while the West is „acting“ in a negative way, in their worldview. Additionally, we have people who recognize the power shift and even celebrate it, without asking whether it is a good thing that autocrats unite more and more against us. China and India, old rivals, becoming closer, Pakistan, India’s enemy, coming closer to Russia — we should not underestimate their pragmatism when it comes to the propaganda war. The world war of information has already started, and such meetings are part of it. The Chinese military parade in September 2025 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino Japanese War and the Second World War was not limited to historical pictures. Laser weapons, hypersonic missiles, China showed its most modern weapons — a kind of exploitation of historical events we know from Russia and formerly the Soviet Union, when they showed nuclear rockets and launch vehicles that were not connected to World War 2 at all.
For Putin such events are very important because he can communicate to his own audience in Russia that he is not isolated, that he is internationally connected. Especially when politicians like Slovakian Prime Minister Fico show up in China for a talk with him, a political leader from a NATO country. From Europe also Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who is currently under pressure with mass protests in his country, and Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó visited the event.

It is no secret that all of them have very controversial views when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and at least a difficult relationship with the West and especially the European Union, so their presence there fits the picture.
Putin also used the conference to put all the narratives to „justify“ his aggression into the willingly accepting audience: „evil NATO“, his version of 2014, the so called „root causes“ Russia addresses all the time to disguise its imperialism.
The West needs to react strategically to these developments. Recognize the worldwide information war, build democratic resilience, expose Western collaborators, agents of influence, and find a united foreign policy and strategic communication. It is not the time for hyper partisan competition, but populists from the extremes keep collaborating with autocratic regimes, so we need to find a way to deal with them and to show how dangerous they are. Nothing less than the future of the democratic world is at stake.
A kind of special obscurity was added by the visit of the dictator, „Supreme Leader of North Korea“ Kim Jong Un, who attended the military parade.
Maybe the secret motto of the events was actually: „Dictators worldwide, unite“ and the populists were also welcome, stooges are needed.

On the other hand, an RT “journalist” wrote that the West is “outraged cause of the Shanghai Cooperation summit,” calling it a meeting of autocrats. He claims, of course (what else to expect), that it is actually the opposite, and that in Western Europe the people are powerless. Well, maybe it is true that the summit sparked some criticism in the West, but nowhere near as much as it was praised by fringe media outlets, autocratic regimes’ channels, propagandists, and agents of influence.