Chinese President Xi will gather more than 20 world leaders for a regional security forum in China next week, a major show of force for the "Global South" under US President Donald Trump, while also helping Russia, which has been under Western sanctions, score another diplomatic victory.

In addition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia have been invited to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which will be held in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin from August 31 to September 1.

This will be Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to China in more than seven years. The two countries have been working to reduce tensions after a deadly border clash in 2020.

The last time Modi met Xi Jinping and Putin on the same stage was at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, last year. At that time, Western leaders ignored the Russian president over the war in Ukraine. Russian embassy officials in New Delhi said last week that Moscow hopes to hold trilateral talks with China and India soon.

"Xi Jinping will want to use the summit as a showcase for a new, non-US-led global order. Moreover, the White House's efforts since January to confront China, Iran, Russia and now India have not yielded the desired results," said Eric Wolander, editor-in-chief of the China-Global South Project, a think tank.

"Look at how much the BRICS surprised Trump—this is what this alliance is basically for," said Eric Wolander.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry official said last week that this year's SCO summit will be the largest since its establishment in 2001. He called the bloc an "important force in building a new type of international relations."

Initially formed by six Eurasian countries, the security-based bloc has expanded in recent years to include 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue partners and observers. Its scope has also expanded from security and counter-terrorism measures to economic and military cooperation.