Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Tianjin, China, on Saturday evening, as shown by Indian TV channels, just ahead of a summit featuring leaders from over 20 countries.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit will take place in the northern port city on Sunday and Monday, just days before a significant military parade in Beijing to commemorate 80 years since World War II ended.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is among the 26 world leaders expected at the parade, although Modi was not listed among attendees in Chinese state media reports on Thursday.
This visit marks Modi’s first trip to China since 2018 and follows his visit to Japan, where $68 billion was pledged for investment in India.
China and India, the two most populous nations, are fierce rivals vying for influence in South Asia and experienced a deadly border conflict in 2020.
A warming of relations began last October when Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.
The SCO includes China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus, with an additional 16 countries as observers or dialogue partners.
Xi began welcoming leaders, including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Egyptian Premier Moustafa Madbouly, on Saturday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected to arrive in Tianjin before the summit.
China and Russia have utilized the SCO—sometimes seen as a counterbalance to NATO—to strengthen ties with Central Asian nations.
Leaders such as Iranian and Turkish presidents Masoud Pezeshkian and Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also be part of the bloc’s largest gathering since its inception in 2001.
Bilateral Meetings
Numerous bilateral meetings are anticipated on the sidelines of the summit.
The Kremlin announced that Putin will discuss the Ukraine conflict with Erdogan on Monday.
Turkey has facilitated three rounds of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine this year, yet these have failed to resolve the conflict, which began with Russia’s invasion of its pro-European neighbor in February 2022.
Putin will also meet with Iranian counterpart Pezeshkian to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program on Monday, as Iran faces renewed Western pressure.
On Thursday, Britain, France, and Germany—the E3—triggered a ‘snapback’ mechanism to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran for non-compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal.
Russia’s foreign ministry warned that reinstating sanctions on Iran could have ‘irreparable consequences’.
Tehran and Moscow have been strengthening political, military, and economic ties over the past decade as Russia distanced itself from the West.
Their relationship became even closer after Russia’s offensive against Ukraine.
