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Xi’s SCO and Egypt Trip
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek and then travel to Egypt on a trip from August 30 to September 3, according to Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“on a trip from August 30 to September 3”
At the SCO summit, to be attended by member states including Russia and Iran, Xi will discuss deepening cooperation as well as major international and regional issues, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a daily news conference on Wednesday.
Xi will also hold talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sadyr Japarov, and attend various state events during the trip, Lin said.
In Egypt, Xi will meet President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for talks aimed at “making a positive contribution to safeguarding peace and stability in the region”, Lin said.
The state visit is Xi’s first to Egypt in 10 years, “holds special significance for the development of bilateral ties”, Lin added.
SCO Agenda and Attendees
Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, including Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are set to gather in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek for an annual summit starting on Monday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is also attending, and the summit marks 25 years of its existence, while the two-day meeting takes place under the motto: Together for Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity.
Al Jazeera reported that Xi, Putin and Modi will be joined by the Iranian president and leaders of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, among others, and that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn are also expected to attend.
William Yang, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, said the summit serves as “an important occasion for several of the world’s rising great powers, including China and India, to elevate their global influence and deepen their engagement and cooperation with other countries in the Global South.”
In a separate Al Jazeera report, the SCO’s founding declaration says the group is “not an alliance directed against other states”, even as Putin and Xi have used the summit to promote their vision of a multipolar world.
Diplomatic Stakes and Pressure
The SCO summit comes as the world grapples with the aftermath of the US-Israel war on Iran and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, with Al Jazeera describing the backdrop as upending global energy and financial markets.
“choked off shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz”
Al Jazeera also reported that China has significant economic ties to the Middle East, which was its top source of crude oil imports before the war, and that the Iran and United States conflict has choked off shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz.
In Bishkek, AP said Xi, Putin and Modi gathered with other heads of state for the summit, describing the SCO as a group billed as a counterweight to U.S. global influence.
AP reported that Putin met separately with Xi and Modi in bilateral sessions, and that Putin affirmed to Xi Moscow’s readiness to make the visa-free regime with China permanent.
AP added that Modi told Putin through a translator that “we need to move from endless war to the end of war, to the end of hostilities,” framing the stakes for the summit’s leaders as they seek to strengthen relations with non-Western partners.