(Beijing = Yonhap News) Correspondent Jeong Seong-jo = China Central Television (CCTV) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China on the 31st to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit and the 80th anniversary of China's Victory Day celebrations.
CCTV reported that President Putin arrived in Tianjin, where the SCO summit is being held, by plane this morning.
President Putin's visit to China is his first in about 1 year and 3 months since his state visit in May last year.
CCTV said,"Russia is one of the six founding members of the SCO, and China and Russia have always maintained close ties within the SCO framework," and "Under the strategic guidance of the Chinese and Russian leaders, bilateral relations are at the best time in history, and have become the most stable, most mature, and most strategically rich major power relationship in the current world of turmoil and change."
After concluding the two-day SCO summit, President Putin will travel to Beijing to attend the military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Victory Day in front of Tiananmen Square on the 3rd of next month, along with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
CCTV said that President Putin's visit to China this time was accompanied by a"large-scale and significant" delegation including three vice-premiers, about 10 ministers, and representatives of large corporations, and that"President Putin's participation in the events demonstrated the high level of the China-Russia new era comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership."
Prior to this visit to China, President Putin had previously expressed his intention to strengthen close ties with China and Russia, emphasizing the establishment of a"fair multipolar world order" in a written interview released to China's Xinhua News Agency.
The SCO is a multilateral consultative body established in 2001 by China and Russia along with four Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. With the addition of India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in 2023, and Belarus in 2024, the number of member countries has now increased to 10.
Initially, the focus was on security cooperation, including countering terrorism and separatism. However, as the conflict between China and Russia and the Western bloc, including the United States and Europe, became more pronounced, the scope of cooperation has recently expanded to include economic and cultural areas.
In particular, as China is working to unite the Global South (emerging and developing countries, mainly located in the Southern Hemisphere) against the West, including the United States, the importance of the SCO, along with BRICS, has been highlighted.
China is touting this SCO summit as the"largest ever."
The meeting will be attended by leaders from around 20 countries and 10 international organizations, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Iranian President Masood Pezeshkian.
