A car ride, a huddle and a big snub… The defining moments from the SCO Summit, decoded

The two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in China’s Tianjin has come to an end. It’s been a hectic two-days of diplomacy and discussions for the leaders in attendance, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But amid all these hectic parleys, there has been time for hugs, snubs and laughs.

Here are some most-talked about moments from the SCO Summit and the story behind them.

A huddle seen across the world

If there was one image to sum up the SCO Summit, it would be this one. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all smiles as he chatted with Russa’s Vladimir Putin and host, Chinese President Xi Jinping. The optics of this image are significant; they come at a time when all three leaders share frosty relations with the United States and its President Donald Trump.

The image also evoked memories of a similar photo taken during the Brics Summit in 2018.

Analysts noted that the message being conveyed by PM Modi through the image was clear as day: India has other important friends — including China, regardless of an unresolved border dispute — if the Trump administration chooses to continue alienating New Delhi with tariffs.

Pakistan sidelined and snubbed

The SCO Summit was all about power play. And PM Modi emerged victorious while Pakistan was sidelined. And what better image can this to prove it.

PM Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are seen striding away, deep in discussion without acknowledging Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who lingered in the background.

This came after PM Modi was seen standing several places apart from Sharif in the first family photo from the summit.

Notably, the Tianjin Declaration “strongly condemned” the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, stressing that the perpetrators, organisers and sponsors of such acts must be brought to justice.

A hug for ‘dost’ Putin

PM Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged a warm hug ahead of their formal engagements and were seen walking hand in hand towards the group photo.

This gesture is significant. It comes amid a series of US accusations that India is fuelling the Moscow-Kyiv conflict through its oil purchases. It also highlights New Delhi’s stance: India will pursue diplomacy that best serves its national interests.

The hug also became a huge talking point across the globe; it became the number one trend on China’s local search engine, Baidu.

Not rivals, but partners

This was PM Modi’s first visit to China in seven years during which relations between the two countries had dipped following the Galwan Valley clash in 2020. However, a reset seems to be on the cards.

In a bilateral on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, the two leaders noted that India and China are development partners, not rivals and discussed ways to improve trade ties amid global tariff uncertainty.

Modi told Xi his country was committed to improving ties with China and discussed reducing India’s bilateral trade deficit, while emphasising the need to maintain peace and stability at the borders. Meanwhile, Xi said that China and India are each other’s development opportunities rather than threats, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. “We must … not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship,” Xinhua reported Xi as saying.

‘Aaja meri gaadi main baith jaa’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin turned heads as they shared a ride in a made-in-Russia Aurus sedan to the Ritz-Carlton in Tianjin, where they held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit.

PM Modi later posted on X about the unusual carpool. “After the proceedings at the SCO Summit venue, President Putin and I travelled together to the venue of our bilateral meeting. Conversations with him are always insightful,” the PM wrote.

Sources have told multiple news outlets that Putin wanted to travel alongside PM Modi and he reportedly waited nearly 10 minutes for PM Modi to join him before they left together.

The humanoid that stole the show

Away from the diplomacy and geopolitics, one interesting feature at this year’s SCO was a humanoid robot, Xiao He, which provided multilingual support, answering queries and assisting journalists in multiple languages.

When asked about India-China ties, the humanoid responded, “As an AI service robot, I do not give personal opinions about countries or politics.”

With inputs from agencies