Building a more equitable multipolar world order
En las orillas del Tianjin, Vladimir Putin se unió a más de veinte líderes mundiales convocados por Xi Jinping bajo el paraguas de la Organización de Cooperación de Shanghái, un bloque que representa casi la mitad de la humanidad. El encuentro no es casual: ocurre en vísperas del desfile militar que conmemora ochenta años del fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y en un momento en que tanto Rusia como China enfrentan presiones crecientes de Occidente. La cumbre no proclama una alianza formal, pero sí articula algo más difuso y quizás más duradero: la voluntad de construir un orden mundial que no gire alrededor de Washington ni de Bruselas.
- La cumbre de la OCS reúne a su mayor número de líderes desde su fundación en 2001, señalando que el bloque ha dejado de ser una promesa periférica para convertirse en un foro de peso real.
- Tanto Pekín como Moscú llegan con urgencias propias: China bajo la sombra de Taiwán, Rusia desgastada por la guerra en Ucrania, ambas buscando en la OCS el respaldo internacional que Occidente les niega.
- La presencia de Narendra Modi —su primer viaje a China desde 2018— tensiona la narrativa de unidad: India y China son rivales estratégicos, pero el foro obliga a sentarse a la misma mesa.
- Putin negociará con Erdogan sobre Ucrania y con Pezeshkian sobre el programa nuclear iraní, convirtiendo la cumbre en un tablero de ajedrez diplomático de múltiples frentes simultáneos.
- La ausencia del presidente indonesio, retenido por protestas violentas en casa, recuerda que incluso los actores que buscan nuevos equilibrios globales cargan con sus propias fragilidades internas.
Vladimir Putin aterrizó en Tianjin el domingo por la mañana para sumarse a la cumbre de la Organización de Cooperación de Shanghái, convocada por Xi Jinping en un momento cargado de simbolismo: el encuentro precede por pocos días al gran desfile militar con el que Pekín celebrará ochenta años del fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. La OCS agrupa a diez estados miembros —entre ellos China, India, Rusia, Pakistán e Irán— y cuenta con dieciséis países observadores o socios de diálogo. En conjunto, representa cerca de la mitad de la población mundial y una porción significativa del producto económico global.
En una declaración difundida por la agencia Xinhua, Putin describió la cumbre como una oportunidad para fortalecer la solidaridad euroasiática y avanzar hacia un orden multipolar más equitativo. Analistas como Dylan Loh, de la Universidad Tecnológica de Nanyang, señalan que China ha construido deliberadamente la OCS como una plataforma no occidental, un modelo alternativo de relaciones internacionales que presenta como más democrático que las estructuras lideradas por Europa y Norteamérica.
La escala del encuentro habla por sí sola. El primer ministro indio Narendra Modi llegó a Tianjin el sábado por la noche, en su primera visita a China desde 2018, a pesar de la rivalidad histórica entre ambas potencias y del conflicto fronterizo de 2020. Su presencia ilustra la función peculiar de la OCS: un espacio donde competidores encarnizados pueden coexistir bajo el paraguas de una agenda común. Xi ya había sostenido reuniones bilaterales con líderes de Egipto y Camboya, mientras que Putin tenía previsto reunirse con Erdogan —para hablar de Ucrania— y con el presidente iraní Pezeshkian, en torno al programa nuclear de Teherán.
No todos pudieron estar. El presidente indonesio Prabowo Subianto canceló su asistencia ante el estallido de protestas violentas en su país, un recordatorio de que los actores que aspiran a reconfigurar el orden global también cargan con sus propias vulnerabilidades. Lo que la cumbre dibuja, en definitiva, es un mundo en transición: la OCS no es una OTAN alternativa ni posee su maquinaria institucional, pero su peso simbólico —la cantidad de líderes reunidos, la población que representan, el discurso explícito de alternativa a Occidente— sugiere que la arquitectura del período post-Guerra Fría está siendo desafiada con creciente determinación.
Vladimir Putin touched down in Tianjin on Sunday morning, joining roughly twenty other world leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit convened by Xi Jinping. The timing was deliberate: the gathering would unfold just days before Beijing's grand military parade marking eighty years since the end of World War II. The OCS, often described by analysts as a counterweight to NATO, represents nearly half the world's population and commands a substantial share of global economic output.
The organization itself spans ten member states—China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus—with another sixteen countries participating as observers or dialogue partners. It is the largest gathering of the OCS since its founding in 2001. In a statement published Saturday through China's official Xinhua news agency, Putin framed the summit as an opportunity to strengthen the bloc's capacity to address contemporary challenges and deepen solidarity across the shared Eurasian space. He spoke of building a more equitable multipolar world order.
Expert observers see the summit as part of a larger strategic calculation. Both Beijing and Moscow have turned to platforms like the OCS to expand their international standing at a moment when their confrontations with the West have intensified—China over Taiwan, Russia over Ukraine. Dylan Loh, an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, explained that China has long positioned the OCS as a non-Western power bloc offering a different model of international relations, one it characterizes as more democratic than Western-dominated structures. The organization, in this framing, represents a multilateral order shaped by Chinese interests rather than those of Europe and North America.
The summit's scale itself signals something about the organization's growing appeal. Lim Tai Wei, an East Asia expert at Soka University in Japan, noted that Putin requires the OCS's standing on the world stage and, crucially, the backing of the world's second-largest economy. But Russia is also working to cultivate India, and trade frictions between New Delhi and Washington create an opening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Tianjin on Saturday evening, marking his first visit to China since 2018. The two most populous nations on Earth are fierce competitors for influence in South Asia and fought a bloody border conflict in 2020, yet Modi's presence underscores the OCS's role as a space where such rivals can engage.
Xi had already met separately with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Saturday, with additional bilateral conversations scheduled throughout the summit. Putin was expected to hold talks with Turkey's Erdogan and Iran's Pezeshkian on Monday, discussions centered on Ukraine and Tehran's nuclear program respectively. The military parade in Beijing would draw other leaders—Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and North Korea's Kim Jong Un were confirmed attendees—though Modi's name did not appear on the official list. Indonesia's president, Prabowo Subianto, canceled his attendance due to violent protests erupting at home.
What emerges from this gathering is a portrait of geopolitical realignment in motion. The OCS functions as a stage where nations dissatisfied with or excluded from Western-led institutions can assert collective weight. It is not a formal military alliance like NATO, nor does it operate with the same institutional machinery. Yet its symbolic power—the sheer number of leaders, the population and economic heft it represents, the deliberate framing of an alternative to Western dominance—suggests a world in which the old post-Cold War architecture is being challenged by actors who see themselves as building something new. Whether that construction holds, and what shape it ultimately takes, remains an open question as the summit unfolds.
Citas Notables
This summit will strengthen the OCS's capacity to respond to current challenges and consolidate solidarity across shared Eurasian space, contributing to a more just multipolar world order.— Vladimir Putin, in statement to Xinhua news agency
China presents the OCS as a non-Western power bloc offering a different model of international relations, more democratic than Western-dominated structures.— Dylan Loh, associate professor, Nanyang Technological University
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Putin need the OCS right now? Couldn't he just work bilaterally with China?
He could, but the OCS gives him something bilateral talks cannot—legitimacy as a leader of a broader coalition. When you're isolated by the West, standing with twenty other nations matters. It says you're not alone.
But India and Russia aren't natural allies. Modi just arrived from Japan. Isn't there tension there?
Absolutely. India and Russia have a history, but India also has friction with the United States over trade. The OCS is a space where those contradictions can coexist. Modi can engage with Russia without formally breaking with the West.
What does China actually want from this summit?
To demonstrate that there's a viable alternative to Western-led order. Not to replace it overnight, but to show that non-Western nations have options, that they can build their own institutions with real weight.
Is this a military alliance forming?
Not formally. The OCS isn't NATO. But it's a political and economic platform, and in geopolitics, that's often where military alignments begin. The real test is whether these countries can actually coordinate on something substantial.
Why does the timing matter—the military parade, the summit just before it?
It's theater, but intentional theater. Beijing is celebrating victory in World War II while simultaneously hosting a summit about a new world order. The message is: we won then, and we're building the future now.
What happens if this bloc actually holds together?
Then you have a genuine realignment. Not a new Cold War necessarily, but a world where Western institutions no longer set the terms for everyone else.