Xi, Putin and Modi To Hold Discussions on the Sidelines of the SCO Summit in Kyrgyzstan

June 11, 2019 (EIRNS)—India’s Ambassador to China Vikram Misri announced today that India’s newly re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the June 13-14 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The last meeting between the two leaders in Wuhan in April 2018 played an important role in defusing geopolitical tensions between India and China, long fostered by the British, and in laying the groundwork for India’s eventual joining of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be at the SCO meeting, and is expected to meet with both Modi and Xi as well, according to Livemint. In addition to regional security issues, one of the major topics that will be discussed at the SCO meeting and on its sidelines is how to defuse the U.S. trade war against China, and establish instead a cooperative relationship among all the major powers. Such an agenda will be critical going into the June 28-29 G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, where all four leaders (among others) will be present.