Xi Jinping to Attend Next Month's SCO Summit... Meets Putin Again After One Month

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit to be held in Kazakhstan from the 2nd to the 6th of next month.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported on the 30th that "President Xi will attend the 24th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State, held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from the 2nd to the 6th." This marks another meeting between the Chinese and Russian leaders just over a month after the Beijing summit on May 16.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that following the China-Russia summit in May, President Xi is scheduled to meet again with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the SCO summit on July 3-4.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right), who made a state visit to China last May, is shaking hands with President Xi Jinping.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Regarding the accelerated North Korea-Russia closeness, including President Putin's direct visit to North Korea for the first time in 24 years this month, China has refused to provide an official government comment. It is also anticipated that the upcoming China-Russia summit will focus not only on the Ukraine war issue but also on North Korea-Russia cooperation and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The two leaders have met more than 40 times so far, including bilateral meetings in March (Moscow) and October (Beijing) last year, and May (Beijing) this year. After winning the presidential election in March and starting his fifth term with the inauguration last month, President Putin chose China as his first overseas destination.

The SCO is a multilateral political, economic, and security cooperation organization launched in June 2001, led by China and Russia. Member countries include India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.