The leaders of China, Russia, Turkey, Pakistan, four of the five post-Soviet republics of Central Asia, and other states are continuing a two-day summit in Kazakhstan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional grouping promoted by Beijing and Moscow as an alternative to Western influence.
They started the second and final day by accepting Belarus as a member, an expected move that advances authoritarian leader Aleksandr Lukashenka along his anti-Western path since disputed elections four years ago sparked unprecedented street protests and a brutal crackdown.
Lukashenka has pursued SCO membership for a decade and a half.
In the past three years, his decisions to "weaponize" third-party migrants at Belarus's border with its EU neighbors and to allow Russian troops to stage their full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Belarusian territory have further alienated Lukashenka from the West and increased his reliance on Moscow.
Lukashenka called Belarusian entry into the SCO "historic." In his familiar tone, Lukashenka declared the need to "destroy the unipolar world" and take on responsibility for "global security" because "the narcissistic, selfish West proved incapable of it."
"There are no leaders there [in the West] capable of making responsible decisions independently," he said.
Analysts have pointed out that Lukashenka could be hoping the SCO tie boosts and expands desperately needed trade and economic cooperation with China while slightly reducing his regime's dependence on Moscow.
The SCO is a political, economic, and security and defense organization founded by China and Russia in 2001.
With the addition of Belarus, its membership has now expanded from six to 10 countries, including India and Pakistan, who joined in 2017, and Iran, which became a member in 2023.
Four of the five post-Soviet Central Asian states are members, with only Turkmenistan staying away.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met on the first day of the summit in Astana, which has been shrouded in tightened security measures well beyond the Independence Palace venue where the leaders are gathering.
Putin was quoted by Russian media as crediting the SCO with "strengthening its role as one of the key pillars of a fair multipolar world order."
Xi, who has lent diplomatic support to Russia over Western objections throughout Putin's two-year-old invasion of Ukraine, called Putin an "old friend" in Astana. He cited the "aspiration of friendship for generations" in response to an "ever-changing international situation."
The Kremlin said Putin and Xi talked about the Ukraine war during talks on the sidelines of the summit and, in the words of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as quoted by Reuters, "noted" the "futility of any formats" for peace talks without Russian participation.
On day two, Xi urged SCO members to "resist external interference" and "safeguard the right to development."
In addition to the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Uzbek presidents, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are in attendance at the SCO event. Baku and Ankara are dialogue partners of the SCO.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is also there as part of his first tour of Central Asia since 2017, which will take him to Tajikistan next. He attended the SCO's remotely held summit last year.
The SCO's 23-year history has largely been shaped by China and Russia's evolving relationship.
Putin and Xi's recent efforts since the Ukraine war began have pressed the SCO as part of their broader cooperation and a centerpiece of their shared anti-U.S. perspective.
But beyond the Belarus move, it is unclear what if any gains are likely to be made by the organization at this, its 24th, annual summit.
Critics say that, in expanding its membership and geographical reach, it has diluted whatever mission it might hope to achieve.
"It's still trying to figure out what it is now and what it can be," Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, told RFE/RL recently.
