By SIMINA MISTREANU
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China is rolling out the red carpet for more than two dozen world leaders at two major defense-related events this week. The guest lists, and some notable omissions, are a window into Beijing’s ambitions, alliances and attempts to expand its influence.
The annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), established in 2001 with a focus on security in Central Asia and the wider region, opened Monday in the port city of Tianjin. That will be followed by a massive military parade in Beijing on Wednesday commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
High-profile guests include the Russian and North Korean leaders, and heads of state and government from most Southeast Asian and Central Asian nations. But the guest lists for the SCO forum and the parade don’t fully overlap, reflecting Beijing’s interests, loyalties and limitations among its neighbors and beyond.
The guest list for Tianjin includes leaders of the organization’s 10 member states and representatives from almost two dozen other countries.
SCO was established by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and later expanded to include India, Iran, Pakistan and Belarus. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observer states, and 14 other countries are called “dialogue partners.” The country hosting the annual summit rotates every year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi top the list of dignitaries attending the summit. Also attending are Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, both from dialogue partner countries.
Some non-SCO countries will also be represented, mostly from Southeast Asia. These include Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam, reflecting China’s desire to shore up its ties within the region. The Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, has canceled because of protests at home.
Not everyone is staying for the parade — and North Korea will join
The parade is set to showcase some of China’s most advanced homegrown weapons, including more than 100 aircraft, and numerous tanks and missiles.
Most of the high-level guests at the SCO forum and the military parade overlap, but there will be some notable departures — and additions.
The leaders of India, Egypt and Turkey are leaving China before the parade. Egypt will be represented by a lower-level official. Like most Western countries and their allies, India and Turkey generally refrain from posing alongside China’s top leaders at military parades, which have taken place twice a decade since 2015.
Instead, joining Xi and Putin to observe Chinese troops marching in lockstep on Chang’an Avenue is North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is not attending the SCO summit. This will be Kim’s first meeting with Xi in more than six years and his first occasion to come together with a group of world leaders since the reclusive North Korean leader took office in late 2011.
Xi, Putin and Kim potentially seated together in Tiananmen Square would make for a defiant show of unity at a time when the West is increasingly frustrated over Russia’s war in Ukraine. Beijing, though on paper neutral in the conflict, has not condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is accused of selling weapon components to Russia. Meanwhile, North Korea has sent troops to aid the Russians in the war.
Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who is the country’s acting president in the wake of a military coup in 2021, is also attending the military parade.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe will also be there.
The only European heads of state attending the parade are the Russia-friendly Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Source: ABC News
