SCO Summit 2022: Chinese President Xi Jinping to 'support' India for presidency next year

By Team Newsable | First Published Sep 16, 2022, 3:53 PM IST

The Chinese president congratulated New Delhi on hosting the summit the following year, saying, "We will support India for its presidency next year." This is the first meeting between Xi Jinping and PM Modi since the two countries were locked in a standoff following border clashes in 2020.

China will back India for the presidency next year, said Xi Jinping on Friday, shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Uzbekistan. The Chinese president congratulated New Delhi on hosting the summit next year, saying, "We will support India for its presidency next year." Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day, also congratulated India on assuming the presidency.

In his speech, Xi emphasised the importance of world leaders "working together to promote the development of the international order in a more just and rational direction." He also told the summit to "abandon zero-sum games and bloc politics" and to "uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core."

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This is the first time the two world leaders, Xi Jinping and PM Modi, have met since the two countries were locked in a standoff following skirmishes at their shared border in 2020. Several high-level meetings have been held since then, and New Delhi and Beijing recently completed disengagement at a critical point in Ladakh. It is unclear whether the two leaders will meet bilaterally at the crucial summit.

When asked about the meeting, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said, "We will keep you fully informed as the PM's schedule of bilateral meetings unfolds." Among other topics, according to news agency Reuters, India and SCO member countries are expected to discuss energy security at the summit, which coincides with a significant increase in Indian imports of Russian oil, coal, and fertiliser.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, which includes China, India, Pakistan, Russia, and the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, was established in 2001 as a political, economic, and security organisation to compete with Western institutions.

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