Xi and Putin take aim at the West as leaders gather for China summit

Xi Jinping has criticised the "bullying behaviour" of other countries while Vladimir Putin has blamed the West for his war on Ukraine, on the second day of a major summit in China that seeks to challenge Western-led multilateral blocs.

- Helen Davidson Taipei Amy Hawkins

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit began in Tianjin on Sunday, with China's president welcoming dozens of leaders from Eurasian member states and partner and observer countries, including Putin, and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.

In a speech to delegates yesterday, Putin claimed the war was not triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but was "a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West".

"The second reason for the crisis is the West's constant attempts to drag Ukraine into Nato," he added.

The Russian president's remarks followed a speech by Xi, who said "the security and development tasks facing member states have become even more challenging", and urged them to "oppose cold war mentality, bloc confrontation and bullying".

"We must uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core and support the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core."