Tianjin/New Delhi: With the world beset by multiple crises and conflicts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will showcase India as a moderating factor at the SCO summit in Tianjin and put the spotlight firmly on the foundational mission of the SCO: countering the three evils of terrorism, extremism and separatism.
India’s top priority at the 10-nation SCO summit in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin will be to push the grouping to adopt a strong joint formulation on cross-border terrorism and unambiguous condemnation of the Pahalgam terror carnage that killed 26 innocent tourists on April 22, 2025. India is working with other SCO members and partners to ensure “strong condemnation” of terrorism in the summit declaration, said Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) and the seniormost diplomat handling SCO in India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
“The SCO was established with the primary goal of countering the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism, which continue to remain a challenge,” Mr Lal told journalists ahead of the SCO summit in New Delhi. Recalling a joint statement on “countering radicalisation, extremism and terrorism” that was adopted during India’s presidency of the grouping in 2023, Mr Lal expressed hope that India is expecting strong condemnation of terrorism, including cross-border terrorism in the Tianjin Declaration, which is in the process of being finalised. We are working with other members and partners to see that there should be a reiteration of the strong condemnation of terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, he said.
At the SCO defence ministers’ meet in Qingdao in June, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had refused to sign a joint declaration as there was no mention of cross-border terrorism. In the last two months, Indian officials have been closely in touch with their Chinese counterparts to ensure that the joint declaration takes an unequivocal stand against cross-border terrorism. According to some reports, China is trying to resist any mention of cross-border terrorism in the joint declaration, largely to placate its all-weather ally Pakistan. But Beijing also knows the sensitivity of the issue to New Delhi and is understood to have accommodated India’s concerns.
In his remarks at the SCO summit, PM Modi is expected to exhort the grouping to eschew politics of terror speak in one voice to bring the perpetrators of the Pahalgam to justice.
The Tianjin summit will culminate in important steps to enhance the SCO’s ability to respond to security threats and challenges, including combating the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism, transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, and safeguarding information security. The summit is expected to accelerate the building of “four security centers”, including a universal center and its branches to address the challenges and threats to the security of SCO member states and the Anti-Drug Center.
With the guiding credo, “Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the Move,” the summit in Tianjin on August 31-September 1 is set to galvanise regional cooperation to address cross-cutting problems and challenges.
PM Modi is also expected to push for enhancing regional cooperation in areas ranging from startup and innovation to traditional medicine and digital public infrastructure. In this regard, India will highlight its initiatives under its SCO presidency such as the launch of first-ever SCO Startup Forum, setting up of a new SCO Special Working Group (SWG) on startups, innovation and setting up of a new SCO sub-group on cooperation in traditional medicine and first-ever SCO Young Scientists Conclave.
The SCO summit in Tianjin will also provide a perfect platform to assert the solidarity of the Global South against the backdrop of the tariff war unleashed by the Trump administration in the US.
As far as India is concerned, the SCO summit will be more of a sideshow as the spotlight will be more on the bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which holds the promise of resetting relations between Asia’s top economies. The meeting between the leaders of India and China, on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin, will culminate in important steps to boost people-to-people exchanges such as the resumption of direct flights and the revival of a nearly defunct mechanism on P2P and cultural exchanges.
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.
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