There is uncertainty as India extends an invitation to Xi Jinping for the SCO Summit

China confirmed on Wednesday that an official invitation had been sent to Chinese President Xi Jinping for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. However, Chinese charge d’affaires Ma Jia revealed that a decision on whether Xi would attend the SCO meeting was still awaited as the date for the summit had not been finalized. India had earlier proposed that the summit be held on June 25, but it now wants it postponed to July 5, which is two months before the G20 summit where India aims to forge a consensus on the Ukraine issue in the form of a joint communique.

In a sign of the complications India might have to circumvent, Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the West for the “politicization” of multilateral platforms and attempts to use “irrelevant issues” to dilute the agenda of these platforms during their summit meeting. Ma expressed the same sentiment and said that consensus would be difficult as “prominent security issues’’ were being taken up on economic and financial platforms.

India currently holds the presidency for both G20 and SCO, and Ma confirmed that Xi had also received an official invitation to the G20 summit in September. However, there is no confirmation yet of the date for the SCO summit. The situation at the border was described as stable but complicated by Ma. She said that both sides wanted relations to improve and we’re looking at ties from a strategic and long-term perspective. Ma added that consensus at G20 on the Ukraine issue would be difficult as the situation had “intensified’’ since the Bali Declaration.

Staff Reporter