SCO Summit: PM Modi, Putin among 20 world leaders invited by China
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: China on Friday said the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, to be held in Tianjin, will be the largest in the bloc’s history, with 20 world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, invited to attend it.
The Tianjin meeting of the 10-member grouping from August 31 to September 1 is the fifth summit being hosted by China. It will be the largest in SCO history, China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin told a media briefing in Beijing.
China used the event marking the final stretch before its biggest diplomatic huddle of the year to accuse the US of “threatening world peace,” in a thinly veiled critique of the rival superpower just before hosting a key gathering of world leaders, the media reported.
“The guiding principles and core spirit” of the SCO transcend “outdated concepts such as the clash of civilizations, Cold War mentality, and zero-sum games,” Liu said. It “has become stronger over time and is becoming even more prominent.”
The US was never invited to be a part of a group that was initially seen in the West as a China-backed, eastern counterweight to the America-led NATO alliance.
The SCO has nearly doubled in membership since being founded in 2001 by China, Russia, and Central Asian nations Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It also several observer states and dialogue partners ranging from Mongolia to Saudi Arabia.
US President Donald Trump’s controversial and sweeping tariffs have pushed more than 90 countries to recalibrate their relationships against the backdrop of strained relations with Washington.
China and India recently agreed to explore demarcating their disputed border in a major reset in ties. Trump also tried to play a role in ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, hosting Putin in Alaska last week, although efforts to establish security guarantees for Ukraine are already running into rough weather.
Liu said President Xi will also announce new initiatives and actions to support the SCO’s development, and propose new methods and approaches for improving the global governance system.
“President Xi Jinping will jointly sign and issue the Tianjin Declaration with leaders of other member states, and approve the SCO’s development strategy for the next 10 years,” said Liu.
Other prominent attendees at this year’s summit include Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
Some, such as Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, are expected to stay on for a September 3 military parade hosted by President Xi to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, where China is expected to showcase its latest weaponry.
