Xi, Putin reaffirm partnership at SCO

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin used a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek to restate that Beijing and Moscow are keeping close ties as the regional bloc marked its 25th anniversary. Xi told Putin on August 31 that relations had grown “more solid” and said there were “even brighter” prospects ahead despite what he called greater “uncertainty and unpredictability in the international order.” Putin answered that cooperation was “successfully developing on all fronts,” according to accounts published by Chinese and Russian state outlets and carried by other media. The meeting took place during the August 31-September 1 SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, where more than a dozen leaders gathered, including India’s Narendra Modi, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian and Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif. The summit adopted a Bishkek Declaration and closed Kyrgyzstan’s rotating chairmanship of the group. ### When did Xi and Putin actually meet? (aljazeera.com) August 31 was the date of the Xi-Putin bilateral, not September 2. The Kremlin’s official schedule lists Putin’s meeting with Xi in Bishkek at 15:00 local time on August 31, during Putin’s August 31-September 1 trip to Kyrgyzstan for the SCO summit. China’s foreign ministry said Xi concluded his attendance at the SCO summit and state visit to Kyrgyzstan on the afternoon of September 1 local time, indicating the summit business had already wrapped by then. (aljazeera.com) ### What did the two leaders say about their relationship? Xi told Putin that Beijing-Moscow ties had become steadier and more solid even as global affairs were harder to predict. (en.kremlin.ru) In the same exchange, Xi said prospects for the relationship would be “even brighter,” according to reports based on the meeting. Putin said cooperation between Russia and China was developing across the board. (mfa.gov.cn) The Kremlin’s published record confirms the meeting took place on the summit sidelines in Bishkek, though outside reporting carried more of the public remarks. ### How much did Ukraine feature in the talks? Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said the conversation focused mainly on bilateral economic relations and that the war in Ukraine was discussed only “in passing,” according to multiple reports citing Russian media. (aljazeera.com) That formulation has been central to how Moscow described the session. (en.kremlin.ru) Russia arrived at the summit more than four years into its invasion of Ukraine and under Western sanctions that have increased its economic dependence on China, according to reporting from the meeting. China has continued to deny giving Russia material support for the war. ### Why was the SCO summit the setting for this meeting? The SCO brought together Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, the Central Asian states and Belarus for its annual heads-of-state gathering in Bishkek. (aljazeera.com) The organisation was marking its 25th anniversary, and the summit agenda included security, trade and the bloc’s future development, according to summit previews and official Russian scheduling. Outside commentary around the summit also tied the meeting to wider regional tensions, including the war involving the United States and Iran and concerns about energy routes. Those links appeared in social-media posts and in some analytical coverage, but the verified public readouts of the Xi-Putin meeting centered on bilateral ties and the international order rather than on any detailed new joint initiative. (en.wikipedia.org) ### What comes next after Bishkek? Pakistan is next in line as SCO chair after Kyrgyzstan handed over the rotating chairmanship at the close of the Bishkek summit, according to summit summaries. Putin’s public schedule then shifted to Russia’s Far East, where the Kremlin said on August 28 that he would travel on September 2-3 for the Eastern Economic Forum. (en.wikipedia.org) (aljazeera.com)