China President, Xi Jinping, on Sunday welcomed leaders from Iran, Turkey, Russia, India, and nearly 20 other Eurasian nations to a high-profile summit designed to place the country firmly at the center of regional diplomacy.
The gathering, hosted in the northern port city of Tianjin, is the latest Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and will run until Monday.
It comes just days before Beijing stages a grand military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The SCO, which brings together China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus, alongside 16 affiliated observer and “dialogue partner” states, is holding what has been described as its largest meeting since its establishment in 2001.
Among the attendees are Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, joining over 20 leaders at the table.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tianjin on Sunday, accompanied by a high-level delegation of political and business figures.
China and Russia have previously presented the SCO as a counterbalance to NATO.
This year’s summit also carries added weight as it marks the first such meeting since US President Donald Trump returned to office.
On Monday, Putin is scheduled to sit down separately with Erdogan and Pezeshkian for discussions focused on the Ukraine war and Iran’s nuclear program.
Following the summit, many leaders will travel to Beijing to observe Wednesday’s military parade, a spectacle that will also see the attendance of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
