Beijing: China on Friday announced that the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin will be the largest in the bloc’s history, with 20 world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, set to participate.
The summit, scheduled for August 31–September 1, marks the fifth time China is hosting the 10-member grouping. “This will be the largest SCO summit ever,” Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin told reporters.
Besides Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders attending include PM Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
From South Asia, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Nepal’s Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli, and Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu will also participate, Liu confirmed.
Representatives from 10 international organisations, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, are expected, further underscoring the scale of the event.
China currently holds the rotating chair of the SCO, whose members include Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, and China. The expanded “SCO Plus” format is widely viewed as Beijing’s effort to highlight its growing global influence.
Many visiting leaders are likely to stay on beyond the summit to attend China’s grand military parade in Beijing on September 3, commemorating the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and World War II’s Anti-Fascist War. The parade will showcase advanced military hardware, including fourth-generation tanks, new aircraft, unmanned systems, counter-drone technologies, and hypersonic missiles, according to state media.
President Xi will chair the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO and the “SCO Plus” session, delivering keynote addresses. He will also host a welcome banquet and hold bilateral meetings with participating leaders.
“This summit will be one of China’s most important diplomatic events this year,” Liu said. Xi’s speeches are expected to outline China’s vision for the SCO, reaffirm the “Shanghai Spirit,” and propose new initiatives to promote high-quality development and strengthen cooperation within the bloc.
Leaders will sign a joint declaration, adopt a 10-year development strategy for the SCO, and issue statements marking the 80th anniversaries of both the World Anti-Fascist War victory and the founding of the United Nations. A series of outcome documents covering security, economic, cultural, and people-to-people cooperation are also expected.
