The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will hold its 25th heads of state summit from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 in Tianjin, China, and there is growing international attention being placed on the strategic significance of this year’s meeting. The nine-nation grouping (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran are members) is a formidable force in world politics, not only because of the 3.3 billion population of its members (42% of the world total), but because the SCO brings together to a common purpose major nations that otherwise have historic conflicts—to wit, China, India, and Pakistan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his attendance at this year’s summit, and President Xi Jinping of China will be the host. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend as well, although that is not yet confirmed. This has led to discussion that the crucial RIC grouping (Russia-India-China) could be revived in Tianjin, after nearly six years of dormancy. If that happens, it will be the nightmare of the British and their American allies.
Back on June 9 of this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a call for the RIC to be reactivated. “I would like to confirm our genuine interest in earliest resumption of the work within the format of troika—Russia, India, China—which was established many years ago on the initiative of Yevgeny Primakov (former Russian Prime Minister), and which has organized meetings over 20 times at the ministerial level since then.” He added that “tension has eased significantly” between China and India after their 2020 border clashes, and that therefore, now would be a good time to restore the RIC.
China responded favorably to the initiative. And on July 17, the Indian government responded to threats from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte—who warned India, Brazil and China against buying energy from Russia—by asserting its strategic autonomy and opening the door to a possible RIC meeting. Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, told journalists that the RIC “consultative format is a mechanism where the three countries come and discuss global issues and regional issues of interest to them,” adding: “As to when this particular RIC format meeting is going to be held, it is something that will be worked out among the three countries in a mutually convenient manner, and we will let you know as and when that happens at an appropriate time when the meeting is to take place.”
