The SCO Summit has drawn significant attention from South and Southeast Asian countries, as China's influence continues to expand.

Foreign media has taken note! Foreign media stated that this Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit is different from all previous SCO summits! The Straits Times cited experts as saying that the last time China hosted an SCO summit was the Qingdao Summit in 2018, and at that time, it was not announced that leaders from Southeast Asian countries attended. From 2019 to 2024, the summits hosted by other SCO member states also did not announce the participation of individual Southeast Asian country leaders. However, this time, more South Asian and East Asian countries are participating, reflecting China's emphasis on this summit and its neighborhood diplomacy.

This also reflects a stronger willingness of participating countries to engage, which can be seen as support for the SCO summit and China. The Straits Times believes that rather than the attraction of the summit itself, it is actually more about China's appeal and influence. Obviously, after we announced the list of attendees at the SCO organization meeting, foreign media clearly felt that this summit is different from previous ones. The most direct reflection is that more foreign leaders are attending, and South Asian and Southeast Asian countries are paying more attention to the summit hosted by China.

In fact, leaders from countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Laos have attended the summit hosted by our country, which is already surprising. Because these countries are neither SCO members nor SCO dialogue partners. According to the usual logic, these countries could have chosen not to attend. However, they chose to attend, which itself reflects China's influence.

We certainly attach importance to neighborhood diplomacy, and more importantly, neighboring countries are increasingly recognizing China's influence. Even though the United States has excluded the SCO summit, it can be said that some countries came despite the pressure from the United States. This indicates that these countries have realized that, given the current international situation and regional major security issues, they must sit down with us to communicate and face them together.

Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1841207597224971/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.