In a diplomatic effort aimed at mobilizing support against Pakistan-backed cross-border terrorism, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will appeal to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to enhance counterterror initiatives at a two-day summit in Qingdao, China, beginning on Wednesday.
Singh will lead India's delegation to the SCO Defence Ministers' conference from June 25 to 26 in the east China port city of Qingdao, situated in the Shandong province. The meeting is likely to dwell a lot on the changing regional security dynamics.
His visit comes just days after India's precision strikes—codenamed Operation Sindoor—on nine high-value terror infrastructure facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as a response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.
This will be the first official visit of a Union Cabinet Minister of India to China after ties turned sour over the on-going border standoff that started along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh in May 2020.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is also in China for the SCO's national security advisors' meeting, marking a wider effort by India to re-engage on multilateral forums.
According to an official briefing, Singh will reiterate India’s strong commitment to the founding values of the SCO and present New Delhi’s roadmap for regional cooperation aimed at dismantling terrorism and violent extremism networks.
He is expected to call for “joint, consistent, and coordinated action” to neutralize threats to peace and stability across member states, while also promoting greater trade, connectivity, and economic synergy within the SCO.
In addition to addressing the plenary session, Singh will also have one-on-one meetings with some of his counterparts, including China and Russia, in order to advance bilateral defence cooperation and promote greater regional understanding.
"India places special significance on SCO in fostering multilateralism, political, security, economic and people-to-people engagement in the region. SCO follows its policy based on the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity of states, non-interference in their internal affairs, mutual respect, understanding and equality of all member states," the Defence Ministry said.
China is hosting the defence ministers' summit as the present chair of the SCO.
India-China relations have been on the boil ever since the fatal Galwan Valley skirmishes in June 2020. While tensions had continued for several years, there are indications of a thaw in recent diplomatic interactions.
The military faceoff was formally resolved in October last year after disengagement was achieved in Demchok and Depsang.
One significant development was during NSA Doval's visit to Beijing in December when he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi under the Special Representatives (SR) mechanism—a programme that was reactivated after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the margins of the SCO Summit in Kazan on October 23.
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