Rana Mitter: Global economic center of gravity shifts to Asia-Pacific

Historian Rana Mitter, speaking on France 24, said the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is evolving from a symbolic anti-Western forum into a platform where Asian powers coordinate on energy, technology, infrastructure and trade. He argued that India's participation illustrates a fluid order where major powers pursue strategic interests across rival institutions. Mitter concluded that the world is moving toward a fragmented, transactional system, with economic and demographic weight shifting to Asia, rather than a simple replacement of US hegemony.

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Mitter's remarks came during a France 24 interview tied to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping gathered allied leaders. He characterized the SCO's evolution from a largely symbolic anti-Western statement into a working platform addressing energy supplies, technology transfer, infrastructure financing, and trade coordination among Asian states.

The Harvard Kennedy School scholar pointed to India's dual participation in rival institutional frameworks as evidence that the emerging order is transactional rather than bipolar. He noted that even a new US administration would face difficulty restoring the unipolar structure that prevailed in previous decades, given the sustained