Editor's note: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is holding its first in-person leaders' summit since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. With the West in disarray, what kind of new importance and mission would the SCO assume? This episode of Reality Check analyzes SCO's position in today's international relations and its potential role in the future.

Hey guys, welcome to Reality Check. I'm Huang Jiyuan.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan as we speak. And, it's quite a gathering. Leaders from the eight member states are attending, including Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This is the first in-person SCO leaders' summit since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is the first international trip President Xi has made after the pandemic hit. It is also the first time that Putin is meeting with Xi and Modi in person since the Ukraine conflict broke out. Safe to say that people are watching.

Rong Ying, Vice President of the China Institute of International Studies, said that "the organization has now become very much influential. Its influence is growing from day to day, month to month. And also, I think, because it is really unlike similar regional organizations, it's able to make a difference. It's able to deliver and it has been efficient. And it's been able to address and respond to the challenges in the region."

To be fair, the organization has never been un-influential. The SCO is the largest regional group in Eurasia. The eight-member organization occupies more than three-fifths of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half of the global population and a quarter of the global GDP.

In 2021, the member states plus Iran registered a 25 percent increase in trade volume, surpassing $776 billion. And after the Americans pulled out of Afghanistan, the SCO, which was founded with a primary focus on anti-terrorism, is destined to play a greater role in regional stability.

But the SCO is indeed getting an upgrade in its stature. Bloomberg describes the summit as an "opportunity to connect with a grouping of countries seen as the region's answer to Western-led alliances." That "answer to Western-led alliances" part is incredibly accurate.

The Western-led alliance isn't doing very well right now. It's tied down in Ukraine. Europe is looking at a very tough winter with the deteriorating energy crisis. Its leader, the United States, has been instigating troubles in the Taiwan Strait while many believe its economy will go into recession next year. The Western-led alliance isn't stable. It's no longer able to provide solutions to global problems but causing many.

SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming commented that "there is a saying here: There is a long queue outside the doors of the SCO. And I think this metaphor is not exaggerated. Why is this happening? I think in the profound global changes that we are witnessing, members of the international community are expecting a new type of international relations, based on mutual-respect, equality and mutual benefit, which are the essence of the SCO Charter and the Shanghai Spirit."

The world doesn't need pretty photo-ops or rousing speeches. The world is facing enormous trust deficit. It's becoming increasingly divided by ideology. The problems we are all facing – climate change, terrorism, economic slowdowns – none of them could be solved by arguing "what is democracy."

The new type of international relations needs to be an issue-based relationship that generates issue-based solutions. And this is the time for it to shine.

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