The first of these meetings was the G7 (or G6+1 as some of the participants described it) in Québec City Canada. Attending were political leaders of the six largest (as measured by GDP) western industrial nations and Japan.

The American President Donald Trump did not bother to conceal his fundamental scorn for his alleged friends and allies. He arrived late, made little or nothing by way of a significant contribution, and left early. On his plane en route to a meeting in Singapore with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un he resiled from the joint memorandum supposedly agreed to in Québec, and added some personal and bitter insults about the meeting’s host, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau.

The second key group central to Russia’s ‘other formats’ is the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) whose most important member economically and politically is Russia. Even more importantly, the EAEU has signed major cooperation agreements with the China instigated Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It has also signed a free trade agreement with Iran, to come into effect in 2020. Iran is a pivotal nation in all of the Eurasian and beyond multilateral agreements that are not only already in place, but are having a steadily mounting economic, financial and geopolitical impact.

The third grouping and one having its annual meeting in Qingdao, China, is the Shanghai Cooperation organisation (SCO). It was not by coincidence that the SCO meeting took place in Shandong Province, which is the birthplace of Confucius.

The SCO meeting was the first to be held since Pakistan and India were admitted as full members in 2017. These two nations have a difficult history, but contrary to the expectations of many western commentators, they have nonetheless agreed to seek a resolution of their differences within the SCO framework.

Of even greater consequence, China and Russia, through a combination of factors including complementary economies and resources, and the certain knowledge that they are more secure together than apart, have forged an increasingly close relationship. So much so in fact, that in Qingdao President Xi presented President Putin with a unique Medal of Friendship. Xi not only described Russia as China’s “best ally”, he also used the phrase “strategic partnership” for the first time in a public forum.