The SCO, which includes India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is an influential economic and security bloc that boasts one of the largest trans-regional foreign organizations. Officials say there is a possibility of an assembly on the sidelines of the summit between Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is expected to accompany Xi.
If held, it will be the first high-level meeting between Indians and Chinese after the formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trio.
Typically, the Indian Prime Minister attends the SCO summit, offering an opportunity for Indian and Chinese leaders on the sidelines of the eight-member bloc’s assembly of heads of state. But as Modi has forgotten, importance is being given to the most likely meeting between Jaishankar and Wang, in the light of the frozen relations between both countries for four years due to the standoff in eastern Ladakh.
India is pressuring the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to withdraw from the Depsang and Demchok regions, saying it cannot return to normality in its relations with China as long as the border state remains abnormal.
For its part, China continues to maintain that the border factor does not constitute the entirety of China-India relations and deserves to be included in bilateral relations and handled gently. Kazakhstan will host the summit in its capacity as the group’s current president.
Last year, India chaired the SCO. It hosted the SCO summit in virtual format in July last year. India has shown interest in deepening its security cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which particularly deals with security and defense issues. 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 a permanent member of India in 2017.
(With agency input)
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