SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting Begins in Beijing

July 16—Foreign Ministers Lavrov of Russia and Jaishankar of India are in China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin, which opened yesterday.

In the case of India, this visit follows the recent visits to China of India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, marking an effort to improve India-China relations. Singh was quoted as saying that India does not seek conflict or confrontation with China, and is willing to properly manage differences, enhance communication and mutual trust, and promote the steady development of bilateral relations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Sergey Lavrov on July 13. Global Times reports that Wang Yi described the China-Russia relation as “one of the most stable, mature and strategically valuable major power relationships in today’s world, and both sides have always viewed and promoted cooperation in various fields from a historical depth, strategic height, and long-term perspective.” Wang also said that, as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, both sides will also organize a series of commemorative activities “to uphold the correct historical narrative of the war.”

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar of Pakistan is also attending the SCO meeting. The Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who had attended an earlier meeting of SCO Defense Ministers in China, had refused to sign the joint statement at that event, due to the fact that the terrorist attack in Indian-held Pahalgam in Kashmir, which India blamed on Pakistan, was not denounced in the statement. That terrorist attack was blamed by India on the Pakistan government, which led to a military confrontation between the two nuclear powers. Hopefully, the Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers can use this new meeting to bring the two nations to a better relationship.