Balancing Indo-Pacific Dream: India at SCO Summit

Upholding the “Shanghai spirit,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed India’s commitment to strategic autonomy and multipolarity based on greater action under three pillars—security, connectivity, and opportunity—at the 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held in Tianjin from 31 August to 1 September 2025.

- Dr. Govind Gaurav, Shruti Rathore

Amid the tariff tensions with the US, Modi’s first visit to China in seven years calls for close scrutiny of the events, particularly in connection with India’s Indo-Pacific dreams that contrast with the SCO to some extent but are not exclusively intended to counter China. Although India supports a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific, which doesn’t antagonise its relations with China, its deep engagements with the US-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) somehow signal anti-China sentiments. Therefore, the central challenge for India lies in balancing its strategic stances between the Global West and the Global East while forwarding its aspirations of leading power in the Indo-Pacific.

The SCO Framework and India’s Indo-Pacific Contrast

The SCO was formed in 2001 as a Eurasian military, economic, and political organisation aimed at maintaining peace, stability, and security in the region. It is the largest regional organisation by population and geography, with India becoming its full member in 2017.

SCO is viewed as an anti-West framework, although it is not mentioned outright anywhere in its charter. Russia sees the SCO through the lens of an anti-US-led global order and seeks to promote an alternative order in which global power is shared by multiple states, or what is defined as a multipolar world order. On the other hand, China views the SCO as advancing its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive economic and infrastructure initiative of China started in 2013 under President Xi Jinping, and asserting influence on Eurasia. Iran’s membership in the SCO in 2023 further strengthened this reasoning, which shares turbulent relations and a troubled history with the US.