Xi, Sharif to attend virtual SCO meet hosted by India

Chinese President Xi Jinping will join the virtual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be hosted by India on July 4, with Beijing saying on Friday that regional countries are looking to the bloc to play a bigger role in ensuring regional security.

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI: India, which is chairing SCO for the first time since it joined the grouping in 2017, announced last month it would host the summit in a virtual format. The meeting is expected to be joined by the leaders of China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran will be admitted as the ninth member of the SCO at the summit.

Xi will attend the SCO Summit via video-conference from Beijing at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “deliver important remarks”, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said. Mao Ning, another spokesperson of China’s foreign ministry, told a media briefing in Beijing that other countries are hoping the SCO will play a larger role in security and development. Xi and the other participating leaders will chart the course for future growth of the SCO, she said.

“In a world marked by change and disorder and fraught with increasing instability, uncertainties and unpredictable factors, regional countries as well as other members of the international community look to the SCO to play a bigger role in safeguarding regional security and promoting common development,” Mao said while replying to a question on China’s expectations from the summit.