Xi and Putin Join Other Asian Leaders Blasting America and Israel for ‘Military Strikes’ Against Iran

Asian powers, ranging from hostile to neutral to sometimes friendly toward America, have wound up a two-day conference blasting America and Israel for their attacks on Iran and also for sanctions.The conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ostensibly about peace and good-will, turned into a platform for leaders of China and Russia to join India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus and Turkey, a NATO ally, in decrying “military strikes” on Iran.The strikes, they said, had “resulted in numerous civilian casualties and significant damage to the country’s economy” while violating “the principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter “ and creating “serious risks to international peace, security and stability”.The SCO summit, in Bishtek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, one of five formerly Soviet republics in central Asia, did not begin as a forum for anti-American sentiments, but leaders meeting “on the sidelines” inevitably touched on security issues On the 25th anniversary of the first SCO summit, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping hobnobbed with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian. and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, among others. All of them, including the leaders of the five central Asian republics, joined in signing the declaration.Superficially, however, the conference was about peace, not war. Mr. Xi was the dominant figure, talking up the need for cooperation, while India’s Prime Minister Modi carried his message of peace personally to the leaders of two of the world’s most warlike regimes, Russia and Iran.“All issues must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy,” Mr. Modi told Iran’s President Pezeshkian, who had already posted, “If the U.S. returns to its commitments in the memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately reciprocate.”For Mr. Putin, Mr. Modi’s message was, “We need to move from an endless war to the end of the war” for Ukraine. Mr. Putin responded vaguely, “We are moving forward along this path” while his defense ministry reportedly planned more strikesMr. Xi’s conversation with Mr. Putin was more pleasant. He assured the Russian leader of China’s eagerness to “strengthen the forces leading the reform of global cooperation.” The SCO, he said, provided an “important platform for implementing the Global Security Initiative” — a pointed reminder of China’s military power. Of more immediate importance, Mr. Xi saw the nations at the SCO as covering “a priority area for high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road,” China’s program for extending its economic power down through Asia to the middle east. If the comments, as reported by spokesmen, seemed unrevealing, they show the desire of Asia’s most powerful figures to work with one another away from overt American influence, much less interference. Turkey is a NATO ally, but Mr. Erdogan ’s refusal to let American planes use an important American air base on Turkish soil for missions in the war with Iran has aligned Turkey with India as almost a neutral power.Mr. Putin set the tone of the conference when he told Mr. Xi, according to a Russian spokesman, that “cooperation is successfully developing on all fronts.” With a gathering of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok next on his itinerary, Mr. Putin was obviously not thinking of cooperating with America or NATO in the quest for peace in Ukraine. He made sure, however, to chat with Iran’s President Pezeshkian, who presumably pleaded for Russian military aid even as the Russians are hard pressed in Ukraine.Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, pushing his own would-be role as a peacemaker in the Iran war, also met Mr. Pezeshkian in a conversation that Mr. Sharif’s office said was “warm and cordial.” Beyond the honeyed words, there was no hint of Pakistan’s role as a negotiator. In fact, Mr. Modi clearly had Pakistan in mind, telling all those at the conference, including Mr, Sharif, that “terrorism can never be a strategic asset for anyone” and “there can be no place for double standards on terrorism.”The forum also provided an opportunity for China to expand its role in Kyrgyzstan and the other central Asian countries. Mr. Xi and the Kyrgyzstan president, Sadyr Japarov, signed a friendship treaty to accompany a plan for China to extend its high-speed railway network to the capital and beyond in accord with China’s belt-and-road initiative.The setting of this week’s SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan, which declared its freedom from Soviet rule in 1991 shortly before the demise of the Soviet Union, was significant. The official language of Kyrgyzstan is Russian, and a 2013 Gallup poll showed a majority thought the collapse of Soviet rule did more harm than good.

Xi and Putin Join Other Asian Leaders Blasting America and Israel for ‘Military Strikes’ Against Iran

Xi and Putin Join Other Asian Leaders Blasting America and Israel for ‘Military Strikes’ Against Iran

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