Beijing, 22 August

China on Friday said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held in Tianjin later this month will be the largest in the bloc's history, with 20 world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attending it.

The Tianjin meeting of the 10-member grouping from 31 Aug-1 Sept is the fifth summit being hosted by China. It will be the largest in SCO history, China's Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin told a media briefing.

Besides Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the summit will be attended by PM Modi and a host of world leaders, Liu said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh are other prominent leaders to attend the summit, he said.

From the subcontinent, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu will attend the summit, Liu said.

Officials of 10 international organisations, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, will attend the event, making it the largest in the organisation's history.

China is this year's rotating chair of the 10-member bloc. The SCO comprises Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and China.

The extended SCO plus summit is seen as an attempt by Beijing to showcase its growing influence in the world.

Most of the leaders were expected to stay beyond the two-day summit to witness China’s largest military parade to be held in Beijing on 3 Sept to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

China will showcase a series of new-generation armaments in the military parade, such as fourth-generation tanks and aircraft, unmanned intelligence and counter-unmanned equipment, and advanced missiles, including hypersonic ones, official media here reported.

Liu said Xi will chair the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO and the "SCO Plus" Meeting, and deliver keynote speeches.

Xi will host a welcome banquet and bilateral events for participating leaders.

This summit will be one of the most important head-of-state diplomacy and home-ground diplomacy events in China this year, Liu said.

In his keynote speeches, Xi will elaborate on China's new vision and propositions for the SCO in carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit, shouldering the mission of the times, and responding to the people's expectations.

Xi will also announce new measures and initiatives by China to support high-quality development of the SCO and comprehensive cooperation, and propose new methods and pathways for the organisation to constructively safeguard the post-WWII international order and improve the global governance system, he said.

Xi will jointly sign and issue a declaration with leaders of other SCO member states, approve a development strategy of the SCO for the next 10 years, issue statements marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and the 80th founding anniversary of the United Nations, and adopt a series of outcome documents on strengthening security, economic, people-to-people and cultural cooperation, he said.