China set to host defense chiefs from Shanghai Cooperation Organization

​​​​KARACHI/ISTANBUL

Defense chiefs and officials from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states will meet for a two-day summit in China's eastern Qingdao beginning Wednesday amid escalating regional tensions, particularly in the Middle East, according to a statement Tuesday from the Chinese Defense Ministry.

Chinese Defense Minister Admiral Dong Jun will host the summit and address the participants.

The meeting will “further consolidate and deepen the military mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation among SCO member countries, promote the implementation of co-building the shared home featuring solidarity and mutual trust, peace and tranquility, prosperity and development, good-neighborliness and friendship, as well as fairness and justice, and contribute to safeguarding world and regional peace and stability and promoting prosperity and development,” it said.

The defense ministers are expected to discuss a string of issues, including regional and international peace and security, counterterrorism efforts and cooperation among member states.

Established in 2001, the SCO is an inter-governmental organization comprising 10 member states -- China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.

The SCO has a strong counterterrorism mechanism - the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) -- and China is the current chair with the theme: “Upholding the Shanghai spirit: SCO on the move."

Pakistani, Indian defense chiefs to meet face to face after military standoff

The meeting will also see the first face-to-face encounter between the Indian and Pakistani defense chiefs since a military standoff between the nuclear neighbors last month.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who is scheduled to arrive Wednesday with a high-level delegation, will hold meetings with the defense ministers of China, Russia, and other participating countries on the sidelines of the meeting, according to a statement.

It will be the first trip to China by any Indian defense minister in at least past five years and the first meeting with a Chinese counterpart since November.

Since May 2020, the two Asian nations had been engaged in a tussle along the 3,500-kilometer (2,174-mile) Line of Actual Control -- a de facto border in the Ladakh area of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.

At least 24 soldiers -- 20 from India and four from China -- were killed in clashes in July 2020. That led to a tense and long-running standoff that has seen both sides deploy thousands of military personnel and heavy weapons in the region.

The stand-off ended with the withdrawal of troops by both armies.