Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin took turns Monday to swipe at the West during a gathering of Eurasian leaders for a showpiece summit aimed at putting Beijing front and centre of regional relations.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), comprising China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, is touted as a non-Western style of collaboration and seeks to be an alternative to traditional alliances.

Xi told the SCO leaders, including Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that the global international situation was becoming more "chaotic and intertwined".

The Chinese leader also slammed "bullying behaviour" from certain countries -- a veiled reference to the United States.

"The

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