SCO Tianjin Summit 2025: Optics, Outcomes, and the Real Balance of Power

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2025 in Tianjin and the Beijing Victory Day parade sparked heated debates across South Asia. Indian media framed Prime Minister Modi’s long handshakes with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin as a “power huddle,” while Pakistani social media claimed Putin ignored PM Shehbaz Sharif. Both narratives distort the real picture. In this episode of Unraveled with Marvi Sirmed, we cut through the propaganda with in-depth, fact-based analysis: 1. The Tianjin Declaration condemned the Pahalgam attack in India and the Jaffar Express and Khuzdar school-bus attack in Pakistan. 2. Why the SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) ensures balanced references and avoids arbitration. 3. What really happened between Putin and Shehbaz Sharif — and why viral “snub” videos are misleading. 4. Disinformation around Modi’s attendance and the so-called “Chinese statement omission.” 5. Why China’s pageantry and process mattered more than handshakes. 6. How Trump’s tariffs and Washington’s tough talk shaped India’s hedging strategy. 7. Europe’s reading of Xi–Putin–Kim as a direct challenge to the rules-based order. 8. What Pakistan actually gained — textual recognition, bilateral optics, and parade protocol. 9. How the summit reflects the thickening multipolar middle in world politics. Subscribe for more grounded analysis of South Asia, geopolitics, and global order. Share your thoughts: Did Tianjin 2025 shift the balance — or was it China’s stage from start to finish?