Chinese President Xi Jinping started welcoming visitors on Saturday, including United Nations leader Antonio Guterres and Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, before a summit in which leaders from more than 20 nations will converge.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit is to take place on Sunday and Monday in the north port city of Tianjin, days before a grand military parade in neighboring Beijing marking 80 years of the victory of World War II. Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, will attend with about 26 other world leaders at the parade.
The SCO has China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus as members, with a further 16 nations as observers or "dialogue partners."
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be visiting Tianjin in advance of the summit. China and Russia have used the organisation—likewise referred to as a counterweight to the Western-dominated NATO alliance—to deepen relations with Central Asian states.
Other presidents, such as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will also be present at the SCO's biggest gathering since its establishment in 2001.
**Bilateral meetings**
A number of bilateral talks are also anticipated in conjunction with the summit. The Kremlin announced on Friday that Putin would hold talks with Erdogan on Monday to talk about the conflict in Ukraine. Turkey has hosted three rounds of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks this year, which have all failed to break the deadlock resulting from Moscow's invasion of its pro-European neighbor in February 2022.
Putin also has a meeting planned with Pezeshkian on Monday to talk about Tehran's nuclear program at a moment when Iran is under increased pressure from the West. Britain, France, and Germany, the so-called E3, triggered a "snapback" mechanism on Thursday to restore UN sanctions on Tehran for not respecting commitments entered into in the 2015 nuclear accord.
Russia's foreign ministry cautioned that the reinstatement of sanctions against Iran would have "irreparable consequences." The last decade saw Tehran and Moscow build closer political, military, and economic relations as Russia distanced itself from the West, with ties strengthening even further after Moscow's offensive against Ukraine.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit follows his recent trip to Japan and marks his first to China since 2018. The two most populous nations remain intense rivals vying for influence across South Asia and were involved in a deadly border clash in 2020. A thaw in relations began last October when Modi met Xi for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.
Read also| Trump Moves to End Secret Service Protection for Kamala Harris
