Merics, Sep 03, 2026,
China sticks with Iran, but downplays top-level contact at SCO summit.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek this week put China’s balancing act over Iran on full display: While the ten-country group again expressed its “condemnation of the military strikes” against fellow member Iran, Xi Jinping avoided a formal bilateral meeting with President Masoud Pezeshkian. While Iranian media reported that both leaders did speak briefly in Kyrgyzstan, the Chinese government released no details. This suggests a careful choreography to avoid further confrontation with Washington and limit the risk of alienating important commercial partners like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf region – while at the same time maintaining Beijing’s support for its strategically and economically useful partner, Iran.
China in recent weeks has strongly rejected Washington’s threats to sanction Iran’s trading partners, saying it will “firmly defend” its interests. But the latest developments in Bishkek suggest that China wants to maintain its relationship with Teheran without unnecessarily raising its profile as a geopolitical irritant – especially as Xi is expected to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington in late September. The Chinese government’s readout at the SCO summit only recorded meetings with Russian President Valdimir Putin, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and counterparts from Mongolia and Uzbekistan. The Iranian president was nevertheless visibly present in Bishkek, appearing alongside Xi, Putin, Indian President Narendra Modi and other regional leaders.
China’s tiptoeing over Iran was only one aspect of a summit that underscored the SCO’s growing identity as a forum for non-Western co-operation – a development that many members, including Iran, have been keen to advance. The Bishkek meeting marked the SCO’s 25th anniversary and ended with around 30 agreements on security, economic and cultural cooperation. Among the more concrete outcomes were progress on the SCO Anti-Drug Centre and the SCO Development Bank, the establishment of both having first been agreed at last year’s summit in Tianjin. Since these projects have been long in the making – and key details continue to remain unresolved – the familiar criticism that the SCO produces more diplomatic declarations than tangible results remains valid.
"China’s approach to Iran reflects a careful balancing of interests. Beijing wants to preserve the strategic and economic benefits of the relationship, but it has little interest in being drawn into Iran’s conflict with the United States.”
Eva Seiwert, Senior Analyst, MERICS
Media coverage and sources:
- Chinese MFA (CN): Xi Jinping's Speech at the 26th Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State
- Russian government website (RU): Bishkek Declaration on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
- Akashvani News: PM Modi stresses freedom of navigation, civilian protection in meeting with Iran President
- IRNA: Pezeshkian, Xi hold brief talks on sidelines of SCO summit
- IDCPC: Xi, Japarov chart new course for China-Kyrgyzstan ties
