Putin among leaders of 24 nations at bloc's major China summit

VLADIMIR Putin yesterday met the leaders of China and India at a key summit overshadowed by the ongoing trade war with the US.

- By Stephen Beech

Chinese leader Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet for the Russian president and India's prime minister Narendra Modi when they arrived in the city of Tianjin for the two-day gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

The heads of state of 21 other nations were also in attendance along with representatives of the United Nations and the World Bank.

The SCO, which has a GDP four times larger than the EU, is a regional security grouping that has emerged as a cornerstone of Xi and Putin's bid to rebalance global power in their favour.

Other members of the SCO include Iran, Belarus, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.