One of Biden’s great achievements during his term as President was the solidification of a transnational world order focusing on a confluence of Western nations with the US as its patron. The war in the Ukraine provided an occasion for this remarkable alliance. No other global entity at the time had quite the same global supremacy.

            Trump changed all that. And in the process he created a similar, though opposing distinction. Not only did he dismantle the global order that Biden helped to maintain, he almost single-handedly created a new one. Unfortunately, however, the US was not in it

            . Quite the opposite. What Trump inadvertently helped to create was a transnational alliance of countries. These were the ones—and they were many—that felt abandoned and punished by Trump’s America-first foreign policy and his wildly reckless tariffs.

            This new alliance is arguably the most potent constellation of nations today, eclipsing the European-American partnership. The world order has shifted eastward to Asia. China is at its center.

            The summit meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2025 crystallized the formation of this new world order. In attendance were representatives—many of them heads of state—of twenty-five countries. They included several that are pariah states from the Western perspective, including Russia, Iran, Belarus, Myanmar, and even North Korea. Kim Jung Un showed up by train on the last day of the summit to view the huge parade.

            Among the countries at the summit, however, were several that America has regarded as friends, including Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, and Egypt. It even included one NATO country, Turkey.

            What was happening?

            The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has been around for a while. It was formed in 2001 to succeed the Shanghai Five alliance between China and Russia, along with three former-Soviet Central Asian states. Since then it has gradually expanded, though nothing on the colossal scale of the 2025 meetings. Despite the name “Shanghai” in its title, the 2025 SCO summit was held at the Tianjin seaport near Beijing.

            A common refrain in the speeches of Xi and other leaders at the summit was the need for a new global alliance that would reject narrow nationalist isolationism and crippling tariffs that disrupt international trade. They were talking about Trump, of course. So you can say that this was a glorious convocation called to stick it to America.

            But the meetings were more than just Trump-bashing, though there was plenty of that. Although the main events were at the end of August into early September, meetings targeting specific issues began in June. They included forums on business and the digital economy, a council of foreign ministers, an international television festival, an international dialogue on civilization, a media and think tank summit, and a council of ministers of agriculture that focused on rural development, poverty reduction, and technological exchange.

            At the same time that the formal events were taking place, there were many back door and hallway interactions. Putin and Xi chatted frequently, of course. Prime Minister Narendra Modi from India was there to cozy up to Xi, who declared a new chapter in India-China relations. He was smoothing over the recent border clashes between the two countries regarding disputed territory. Perhaps a more permanent cease fire is in the works.

            The SCO was building the framework for an enduring structure of global cooperation. China was the logical locus for the convocation. But it was also the appropriate leader of it. Unlike the recent posture of the US, it was the remaining global superpower willing to invest in global trade and development, both financially and politically, and not just retreat into its own shell. In the process, however, China will reap enormous benefits from these connections that will likely endure for decades.

            The world is shifting. The year 2025 and the SCO summit may go down in history as the axial moment when America’s leadership in the global order was replaced by China. It remains to be seen whether the world will be better off as a result.