China’s President Xi Jinping with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in Astana on July 3.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China is seeking to strengthen its leadership of an expanding bloc of nations it sees as a potential counterweight to the world order led by the United States.

Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states met last week in Kazakhstan, with President Xi Jinping calling on strategic ally Russia and other partners to “firmly support each other”.

Founded in 2001 by Beijing and Moscow as an economic and security grouping, it includes India, Pakistan and several Central Asian states. It expanded last year to include Iran and this year welcomed Belarus. The talks in Astana took place ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Washington, where the Western military alliance is marking its 75th anniversary and reaffirming its support for Ukraine. In stark contrast, the SCO’s joint declaration made no mention of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

With China assuming the annual rotating chair of the SCO, analysts expect it will work to integrate the two new members and boost collaboration across its vast remit — bolstering, in turn, its own leadership of the alliance.

“The SCO is increasingly defining itself as an alternative vision for world order, juxtaposed against the traditional postwar order led by the United States and other Western powers,” said Bates Gill, a senior fellow for Asian security at the U.S.-based National Bureau of Asian Research.

The bloc’s expansion to include new members could be seen as echoing China’s and Russia’s repeated calls for their vast region to resist Western influence.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting, in Astana, Kazhakstan.
| Photo Credit: PTI

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, raised the issue of Indian nationals in the war zone and pressed for their safe return during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov here.

Mr. Jaishankar arrived here on Tuesday. July 2, to represent India at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

“Good to meet Russian FM Sergey Lavrov in Astana today. Wide ranging conversation on our bilateral partnership and contemporary issues. Noted the progress in many areas since our last meeting in December 2023,” Mr. Jaishankar posted on X.

FMs meet ahead of Modi-Putin talks

The meeting between the two Foreign Ministers happened days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned visit to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Raised our strong concern on Indian nationals who are currently in the war zone. Pressed for their safe and expeditious return,” he added in his post, which also had photos from the meeting.

The External Affairs Minister also discussed the global strategic landscape and exchanged assessments and views with Mr. Lavrov.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Jaishankar met Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu and discussed expanding Strategic Partnership and India’s increasing engagement with Central Asia in various formats.

He also exchanged views on regional and global issues with Nurtleu, who also holds the portfolio as Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister.

China’s President Xi Jinping. File
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict and boosting overall security cooperation among the SCO member countries are expected to figure in the summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 24th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on June 30. He will also pay a state visit to Tajikistan, it said.

From July 2 to 6, President Xi will attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in Astana, the Ministry said.

Officials say the situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict and boosting overall security cooperation among the SCO member countries are expected to figure in the summit.

The SCO, comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is an influential economic and security bloc that has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

S. Jaishankar, Wang Yi likely to meet

India will be represented by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) earlier said.

Officials say there is a likelihood of a meeting on the sidelines of the summit between Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is expected to accompany Mr. Xi.

If it takes place, it will be the first high-level meeting between Indian and Chinese officials after the formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 3.0 government following the recent general elections in India.

Generally, the Indian prime minister participates in the SCO summit, providing an opportunity for Indian and Chinese leaders on the sidelines of the heads of the state meeting of the eight-member bloc.

But since Mr. Modi has decided to skip it, significance is attached to the likely meeting between Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Wang in the light of four-year-long frozen relations between the two countries over the standoff in Eastern Ladakh.

Frosty relationship between India and China

Relations between the two countries hit a low except for trade ever since the eastern Ladakh border stand-off erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Tso (lake) area near Galwan.

Since the May 2020 clashes, the two sides have held 21 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks so far to resolve the stand-off. The 22nd meeting is due to be held. 

According to the Chinese military, the two sides have so far agreed to disengage from four points namely the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake, Hot Springs, and Jianan Daban (Gogra) in eastern Ladakh.

India is pressing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok areas, maintaining that there cannot be restoration of normalcy in its relations with China as long as the state of the borders remains abnormal.

For its part, China continues to maintain that the boundary question does not represent the entirety of China-India relations, and it should be placed appropriately in bilateral relations and managed properly.

Kazakhstan is hosting the summit in its capacity as the current chair of the grouping.

India was the chair of the SCO last year. It hosted the SCO summit in the virtual format in July last year.

India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan became its permanent member along with India in 2017. 

File picture of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar
| Photo Credit: via Reuters

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will represent India at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Astana next week as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to skip it.

Mr. Modi is set to visit Russia from July 8 to 9 in his first trip to that country in nearly five years. After concluding the visit to Russia, he is likely to travel to Austria on July 9 on a two-day trip.

It is learnt that Mr. Modi decided to skip the SCO summit in view of his planned two-nation trip to Russia and Austria. There is no official confirmation on Mr. Modi’s visit to the two countries yet.

The SCO summit to be held on July 3 and 4 is expected to focus on the regional security situation and ways to boost connectivity and trade.

“The Indian delegation at the SCO summit will be led by external affairs minister S. Jaishankar,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing on Friday.

The situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict and boosting overall security cooperation among the SCO member countries are expected to figure in the summit.

The SCO comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is an influential economic and security bloc that has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

Generally, the Indian prime minister participates in the SCO summit.

In a phone conversation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi conveyed to Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev India’s full support for the success of the summit.

Kazakhstan is hosting the summit in its capacity as the current chair of the grouping.

India was the chair of the SCO last year. It hosted the SCO summit in the virtual format in July last year.

India’s association with the SCO began in 2005 as an observer country. It became a full member state of the SCO at the Astana summit in 2017.

India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan became its permanent member along with India in 2017.