Weapons Show: East vs. West

25th Council of Heads of SCO Member States and the SCO plus in Tianjin, China on 1st September, 2025

Weapons Show: East vs. West

Deepak Razdan

Sunday, 7 September, 2025

On 3rd September, China held a Victory Parade in Beijing where it displayed its deadly and highly advanced weaponry that could match any adversary in military strength.

The parade was almost like China’s reply to the US display of its missile power in destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities in June this year.

The Chinese parade had followed the largest-ever Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) annual conference of over 20 Heads of State, hosted by SCO current Chair China in Tianjin from 31st August to 1st September.

If US President Donald Trump had Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in the US to discuss Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping had the Russian President by his side at the SCO Summit. The East vs. the West power games were evident.

The SCO was established in 2001 in Shanghai, China by Kazakhstan, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and expanded later to include India and Pakistan, among others.

The US President tried to address the Ukraine tangle at Alaska. The SCO members led by China, suffering the effects of President Trump’s tariff regime, discussed trade among other issues like politics, security and investment.

Recent meetings over Ukraine showed the West was worried about the Ukraine war that could endanger security of Europe. The East led by China’s giant economy is looking for ways how to save itself from the ferocity of the Trump tariffs.

China’s Victory Parade was not just celebration of its victory over Japan in the Second World War. It also showed China’s military capability at present and sent a message that China did not take its war preparedness lightly.

The US bombardment of Iran’s nuclear sites too was frightening and "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities. The missile-strikes were so quick and frequent that the world was shocked beyond belief. It was decades of science used as an instrument of political policy in one shot.

The Ukraine war, the US missile-strikes over Iran and the Chinese military parade showed that military strength will never go out of international political agenda. Economics can harm nations into submission slowly, but military power can alter geo-political situations quickly.

For this reason only, perhaps, Europe and the United Kingdom have been worried about Russia’s never-ending inventory of weapons.

The UK-led Coalition of the Willing group of European nations has been meeting regularly to express solidarity with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and committing itself to oversee peace in Ukraine, should a ceasefire be announced.

It is more than three years Russia has been at the war, capturing parts of Eastern Ukraine and simultaneously trying to send a message to the whole world about its military power.

On 3rd September, after returning from Tianjin, the Russian President witnessed the Chinese Victory Parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Mr Putin must have seen the Chinese left none in doubt about their potential in war-games.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 4th September Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris had resolved that “We must turn Ukraine into a steel porcupine, indigestible for present and future aggressors.”

“That means standing armed forces that are strong, well-equipped, and modern. Our defence industries are accelerating cooperation to make this happen. Europe will continue to train Ukrainian soldiers. Almost 90,000 have already been trained,” she said, summing up Europe’s war worries.

The New World that President Trump launched with his new trade tariffs made every country wonder about trading at present times. But no country while digesting the new tariffs is able to ignore wars and war threats which remain a reality.

On 7th September, Ukraine’s Capital Kyiv reported that Russia had conducted a massive first-ever drone and missile attack on the country’s main government building.  

The Ukraine President posted on X on Sunday “Since last night, work has been on-going to eliminate the consequences of Russian strikes – more than 800 drones, 13 missiles, including 4 ballistic.”

He said, in Kyiv, the Cabinet of Ministers building was damaged in the attacks and a fire broke out on the upper floors. Ordinary residential buildings have been destroyed. In one of them, the floors between the 4th and 8th stories had collapsed.

All this happened while President Trump was personally engaged in pursuing peace in Ukraine. Russia’s attack on Kyiv on the 6th September night showed it had no interest in early peace, Mr Zelenskyy said.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the SCO’s Tianjin Summit and highlighted India’s approach to strengthening cooperation under the SCO framework. He met Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Russian President on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.

In the international scenario made complex by military conflicts and trade manoeuvres, President Trump was alarmed at seeing Mr Modi and Mr Putin in vidoes and pictures with Chinese President Xi.

President Trump posted on the X on 5th September: “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together! President Donald J. Trump.”

A day later, President Trump however revised his view of India. At the White House, he said "I will always be friends with Modi, he is a great Prime Minister.”

"India and the United States have a special relationship. There is nothing to worry about" "I don't think we have," he said, when asked about his Truth Social post about "losing India.”

"I get along very well with Modi as you know, he was here a couple of months ago, we went to the Rose Garden," he said.

The Indian Prime Minister responded promptly. He posted: "Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump's sentiments and positive assessment of our ties. India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership."

In his meeting with the Chinese leader, Mr Modi had reaffirmed that the two countries were development partners and not rivals, and that their differences should not turn into disputes.

They stressed a stable relationship and cooperation between India and China and their 2.8 billion peoples on the basis of mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity was necessary for their growth and development, official accounts said.

For the US, that left Russia and China. One is persisting with its war and the other showed its war-capability. On 5th September, President Trump issued an Executive Order, perhaps taking note of this.

He designated the US Department of Defense and the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the Department of War and the Office of the Secretary of War.

This was necessary to inspire “awe and confidence in our Nation’s military, and ensuring freedom and prosperity for all Americans,” he said.