The meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has begun in Tianjin. It was opened by the President of China Xi Jinping.
The leaders of Russia, India, Turkey and Iran, as well as a number of Eurasian leaders, are participating in the event. The summit aims to put China at the center of geostrategic competition, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.
The meeting, described as the most important since the SCO was founded in 2001, is taking place against the backdrop of multiple crises that directly affect its members: a trade confrontation between the United States and China and India, the war in Ukraine and the Iranian nuclear dispute.
A total of about twenty countries will be represented at the forum, which will bring together, among others, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“The factors of instability, uncertainty and unpredictability have significantly increased“, stressed Xi Jinping yesterday, quoted by state media, during a reception in honor of his guests, “as the world enters a phase of accelerated change“.
“The Shanghai Cooperation Organization bears an even greater responsibility to maintain regional peace and stability and promote development and prosperity for all countries,“ he added.
The SCO countries represent almost half of the world's population and 23.5% of global GDP. The organization is often presented as a counterweight to NATO. Its space contains significant energy reserves.
The forum opens a series of events through which China intends to demonstrate not only its diplomatic reach but also its striking power, while presenting itself as a pole of stability in a divided world, AFP noted.
Putin and several other participants will attend a demonstration of the country's military capabilities on Wednesday during a major parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will make one of his rare trips outside his country for the occasion. North Korea has become one of Russia's main allies in its war against Ukraine.
Many of Kiev's allies suspect Beijing of also supporting Moscow in the conflict, AFP noted. China insists on neutrality and accuses Western countries of prolonging hostilities by arming Ukraine.