Can Trump re-adjust in the post-Tianjin SCO moment? Was the timing of China ‘throwing down the SCO gauntlet’ entirely fortuitous?

Alastair Crooke, 5 Sept 2025

The gloves are off. The SCO Summit was a clear demonstration of the reality of power starkly coalescing, on the one hand, and one of power visibly ebbing, on the other. The amazing military parade was the summit counterpart -- it spoke loudly: You want to take us on? ‘We are ready’.

China has thrown down the gauntlet with precision timing. ‘History is being written – in Russian and Chinese ink’, observed one Russian commentator. You’d almost think they had planned it that way …

Western political systems are in turmoil, beleaguered by populist politics promising everything, yet lacking the tools by which to resolve anything. Western alliances are riven by doubt and uncertainty, with political stability fissuring under pressure from the failures of western borrow and spend policies. Even The Economist concedes that “a new reality is taking hold”.

Trump’s reaction to the SCO spectacle was a snarky dig at some perceived anti-American ‘conspiracy’. Yet, if he feels himself to be the ‘wallflower’ to this gathering of ‘friends’, it is because he chose not to go to Tianjin. He has only himself to blame. Should the SCO become defined in the western psyche as anti-western, then that too will be largely down to Trump -- and how he chooses to frame the US’ future.

Xi made this latter point in his opening speech: “Humanity is again faced with a choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, and win-win outcomes; or zero-sum games”.

Unfortunately, Trump is probably too far down the road of pursuing American ‘exceptionalist greatness’ to expect much of a nuanced response from him. But then again, Trump often does seem to defy the obvious.