Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
Aviation & Defence Universe
WE JUST REPORT FACTS, WE DO NOT
CHANGE THEM
India
Forceful At SCO Summit 2019: No Modi-Imran Meet
Hits 97
By
JK Verma
The Prime
Minister Narendra Modi with the HOS/HOGs of SCO Member States at the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic on June 14,
2019.
New
Delhi. 16 June 2019. The
most interesting ear and eye catchingnews emanating from Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) summit was Iranian President Hassan Rohani saying that
U.S. actions pose a “serious” threat to regional and global stability. But the
news motivating a billion plus Indians was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi
did not meet his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan.
Modi met most of the world leaders present but he refused to meet
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan despite a desire to meet Modi by the latter
and him having written two letters to this effect. Pakistani media also
anticipated that there can be meeting at the side lines of SCO, but the
spokesman of Ministry of External Affairs made it clear that there will be no
meeting between Indian and Pakistani prime ministers. Modi
continued with tough posture and refused to use Pakistani airspace on his way
to Bishkek to attend SCO summit.
A wave for
solidarity of SCO
In Bishkek only “usual pleasantries” were exchanged between both the
prime ministers and Imran Khan congratulated Modi for getting a landslide
victory and defeating an important political family. The relations between both
the nations became tense after ISI sponsored terrorist outfit attacked a
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy at Pulwama in Kashmir in which about
40 valiant soldiers were martyred. India took revenge by bombing a terrorist
training camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 26 February 2019.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first leader to reach at Manas
International airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and the only Head of State
staying in a hotel, by choice and not in the President’s Palace.
PM Modi
shakes hands with the President of Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov
It was his first multi-lateral
summit after winning landslide victory in 2019 parliamentary elections. Beside
condemning terrorism and castigating the nations which support terrorism Modi
had bilateral meetings with several world leaders including Chinese President
Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kyrgyzstan President Sooronbay
Jeenbekov, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, President of the Republic of
Kazakhstan in the side-lines of SCO. Modi also had a ‘pull-aside’ meeting with
President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. A bilateral meeting was fixed with
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani but the
meeting was cancelled as the banquet for the SCO leaders was extended.
Modi not met his Pakistani counterpart despite two letters written by
Imran Khan and a letter was written by Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi for the meeting. It infuriated Qureshi and he told that Pakistan wanted
to have talks with India on the “basis of equality”. He also clarified that
Pakistan is not in haste to have the meeting. He also alleged that India is
still on “election mindset”. However, Qureshi told to Geo news that the meeting
took place, there was handshake and pleasantries were also exchanged. It
appears that Qureshi told this to Geo news for the consumption of Pakistani
masses as in reality there was no meeting only pleasantries were exchanged.
Narendra
Modi meeting Dr. Ashraf GhaniPeace in subcontinent depends on Afghanistan
On 14th June Prime Minster Modi without naming Pakistan, made a strong
statement against state-sponsored terrorism in SCO summit. He stated that the
states which are sponsoring, aiding, abetting and funding terrorism must be
held liable for it. He also emphasised the need of a global conference to fight
the menace of terrorism. In presence of Imran Khan, Modi reiterated that all
the countries should be united in fighting against terrorism and try to build a
terrorism free world. He also mentioned that he visited St. Anthony’s church in
Sri Lanka and there he saw the shameful face of terrorism which can “crop up
anytime anywhere and take the lives of innocent people”. PM also stated
that “A united, peaceful, safe and prosperous Afghanistan is an important
factor for the stability and security in the SCO region”. He mentioned that
India “support the efforts of the government and the people of Afghanistan for
an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled inclusive peace process.”
Modi shakes
hands with Xi Jinping‘Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai’
Modi had several bilateral meetings but the most important were with
Presidents of China and Russia at the side-lines of SCO. Modi in series of
tweets mentioned that his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping was very
fruitful and the talks included full gamut of India-China relations. President
Xi congratulated Modi for landslide victory in the recent elections. Chinese
President told that China “does not pose threat” to India and he desired to
have closer relationship. He also mentioned to sort out differences and the
Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) should be strengthened.
The state-controlled Xinhua news agency mentioned that “China and India
offer to each other chances for development, and do not pose each other
threats”. President Xi also emphasised that both China and India are the two
most populous states of the world and are developing rapidly hence they must
work together, which will not only be good for them but also righteous for the
tranquillity, prosperity and stability of the world. Xi also mentioned that
contentious border issue is dealt by Special Representatives. Ajit Doval
National Security Advisor and Wang Yi Chinese Foreign Minister are the Special
Representatives and so far, there are 21 rounds of talks. Xi emphasised about
the need of more cooperation in the fields of tourism, production, investment,
regional connectivity as well as development of Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar
Economic Corridor (BCIM).
Discussions were also held on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which India
has refused to join. Modi made it clear that India want to solve disputes with
Pakistan through bilateral mechanism, but Pakistan is not creating a conducive
atmosphere for starting the peaceful negotiations. Meeting was important as it
was held after China lifted its technical hold in declaring Pakistan based
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Chinese
President also accepted the invitation to visit India for informal summit this
year.
The Chinese economy has slowed down and trade war is going on with USA.
President Trump has adopted a hard line hence China is seeing India as a big
market. There are not many takers of BRI which China claims as an economic project
but in reality, it is an strategic project. Several smaller countries feel that
China may occupy their prime land through BRI as Sri Lanka had to give
Hambantota seaport to China on 99 years lease as it could not repay the debt.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of Maldives is also slashing some projects
already awarded to Chinese companies. India is getting a good response from
neighbouring countries under its ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’. United States,
Japan and India jointly want to curb the increasing Chinese threat in Indian
Ocean Region (IOR). In view of all these President Xi was very friendly
with India and wanted to have closer relationship.
All
weather friend Russia : Modi & Putin in a tight clasp
Modi also had very fruitful
meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale
mentioned that meeting was “brief but very, very rich”. Both countries agreed
to increase trade and people to people contact. Putin came to India in
October 2018 for the 19th India-Russia annual summit in which multi-billion-dollar S-400
‘Triumf’ was inked. Modi accepted Putin’s invitation to be the main guest
at the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s Vladivostok in September 2019. Modi
thanked Putin for the establishment of the unit in Amethi to manufacture AK-203
Kalashnikov rifles. In nutshell the summit was quite useful for India as
Pakistan was ashamed and Modi had very useful meetings with Chinese and Russian
presidents.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which was created on 15 June 2001
in Shanghai is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation. The
members of SCO include the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation,
Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the
Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of India and Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
In July 2015 in Ufa SCO decided to include India and Pakistan as full members
and both the countries joined SCO in the Astana Summit held in 2017. As the
name indicates it is a Chinese commanded eight-member security and economic
group. This is the second Council of Heads of States (CHS) of SCO summit after
India joined SCO.
(Jai
Kumar Verma is a Delhi-based strategic analyst and member of United Services
Institute of India and Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. The views in
the article are solely the author’s. He can be contacted at editor.adu@gmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment