Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to meet on Wednesday for the second time since May to demonstrate their alliance against the United States and its Western allies.
THE the couple will reunite for the annual session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – a group founded in part to counter Western dominance – in Kazakhstan with other world leaders.
In addition to Putin, Xi Jinping and the host, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the leaders of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and the acting President of Iran, Mohammad Mokhbar, will attend the SCO conference.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands before their talks in Beijing, May 16, 2024. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo via AP, file)
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Among the nine member countries, only India is not sending its national leaderInstead, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is sending his external affairs minister to the meeting.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will also attend, with Putin’s main ally becoming the 10th member country.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also be in Kazakhstan, as Turkey shares partner status with the group.
The two-day meeting comes less than a week before the NATO summit in Washington, DC, and Erdogan is the only world leader to attend both high-level sessions.
The Turkish leader, who has sometimes created obstacles for the NATO alliance, particularly with Sweden and Finland sought to join the military partnership After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he also played a role in communicating with Russia amid the war in Europe and offered to mediate between Moscow and kyiv.
Erdogan is reportedly expected to use the SCO session to attempt new talks with Putin, who has repeatedly postponed his visits to Turkey.
President Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan meet during the G-7 Summit on June 14, 2024, in Fasano, Italy. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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In a similar geopolitical quagmire, India is trying to balance his bonds with Russia while maintaining its alliances with the West.
There were reports that Modi would not attend this year’s SCO conference due to a parliamentary session. But his presence at the G7 summit last month – an international grouping of which India is not a member – sparked speculation that Modi’s decision not to attend was due to his attempt to walk a geopolitical tightrope.
Countries like Kazakhstan will use the SCO conference to strengthen their economic and political ties with their neighboring countries.
Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, December 6, 2021. (T. Narayan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Putin is expected to use the meeting to show that Russia is not isolated from the international community despite Western sanctions and the global rebuke over the war in Ukraine.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will also be present to continue communications with all major global players.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
