- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Beijing for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on August 31–September 1 emphasizes Baku’s recent push for the formation of a multivector diplomatic position.
- Baku seeks deeper SCO engagement to boost the Middle Corridor, but India appears to have blocked Azerbaijan’s membership bid, and intra-bloc rivalries—especially India-Pakistan—undercut the SCO’s ambitions.
- Azerbaijan’s recent initiatives and progress in the development of transport routes have underlined its strategy of balancing relations with regional and global powers through partnerships with platforms such as the SCO.
On August 30, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to attend the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin (President of Azerbaijan; Azertag, August 30). Azerbaijan holds the status of a “dialogue partner” of the SCO, but is not a full member. Aliyev’s attendance at the PRC-led SCO summit came amid simmering tensions between Azerbaijan and Russia, followed by mutual accusations and bellicose rhetoric of the Russian conservative establishment against Azerbaijan (OC Media, August 12; see EDM July 7, September 9). In the face of Moscow’s open accusations and attempts to pressure Azerbaijan through frequent police raids against the local Azerbaijani diaspora, Baku is actively building alternative partnership formats in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and beyond (see EDM, April 23, 24, May 1, 7, July 17, September 10).