SCO: Rajnath Singh to chair Defense Ministers’ meeting on Friday
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: China’s Defense Minister General Li Shangfu arrived in the Indian capital on Thursday to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Council (SCO)’s Defense Ministers’ meeting, which will be chaired by his counterpart Rajnath Singh on Friday.
General Li will also hold a bilateral meeting with Rajnath Singh.
His visit assumes importance as India and China have, amid strained relationships since mid-2020, been trying to sort out their differences. This is the first visit to India by a Chinese defense minister since a deadly clash between their troops in 2020 when at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in the Eastern Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control.
The two sides have had other confrontations since then, with the most recent flare-up happening in December 2022 at Tawang in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
So far, the two armies have held 18 rounds of talks to resolve the border dispute in Eastern Ladakh. General Li’s visit comes days after India and China concluded the latest round of military talks recently.
China’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that General Li will address the conference in Delhi and “meet with the heads of delegations from relevant countries to communicate and exchange views on the issues of the international and regional situation as well as defense and security cooperation.”
India became the chair of the SCO in 2023. It was formed by China, Russia, and four Central Asian countries in 2001 as a countermeasure to limit the influence of Western alliances, like NATO. India and Pakistan joined the group in 2017.
Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu will also attend the meeting in Delhi, while Pakistan’s Khawaja Asif is expected to join virtually.
India has also invited Belarus and Iran, currently observers in the SCO, to participate in this meeting.
Defense Ministers of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan will participate in the meeting.
The ministers will discuss matters related to regional peace and security, counter-terrorism efforts within SCO, and effective multilateralism.
Singh will also hold bilateral meetings with the participating Defense Ministers where bilateral defense-related issues and other matters of mutual interest will be discussed.
India considers the SCO as an important regional group to promote multilateral, political, security, economic, and people-to-people interactions in the region. Under its chairmanship, this year, New Delhi organized two defense-related activities to enhance interoperability amongst SCO member-states.
Next week, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend an SCO foreign ministers’ meeting at Goa in India – the first visit by a top Pakistani government official to India in years.
