By Sampurna Majumder
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will be a two-day summit which will be hosted by the Chinese President Xi Jinping on August 31 and September 1. The summit is expected to focus on the Global South Unity along with providing Russia with a diplomatic platform. It will also introduce Beijing’s growing influence on the world stage.
The SCO was founded in 2001 and since then till now, it has expanded itself into a group of 10 member states which are India, Iran, Russia, China, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India, after serving as an observer since 2005, it became a full member in 2017. India has played a significant role thoroughly which includes leadership roles specially the chairmanship of SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020 and SCO Council of States from 2022-23.
And now with the visit, PM Modi will travel to Tianjin on the invitation of president Xi Jinping – confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs. Modi’s last visit to China was in 2018 during an informal summit with Xi in Wuhan. This will be the 25th SCO summit that he is going to attend. It is a very crucial time for both the nations as they are trying to sustain the relations after the 2020 border clashes.
The SCO meeting offers New Delhi a chance to defuse long-standing hostilities with Beijing. It is expected that the summit will include discussions like incremental confidence-building measures, easing of trade barriers, and new areas of cooperation. Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of The China-Global South Project, predicted that India would set aside recent SCO issues and concentrate on maintaining the détente with China, which is a top priority for Modi.
The SCO’s mission today includes economics, connectivity, and regional stability, but its core objectives are still to combat terrorism, separatism, and extremism. With a heavy emphasis on offering an alternative vision of international cooperation outside of the US-led system, this year’s summit is anticipated to be the biggest since its founding.
Modi is expected to pursue closer ties with China and Russia in reaction to the Trump administration’s intensified tariff pressure on India, which coincides with the summit in Washington.