The North News
New Delhi, June 20
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will travel to China next week to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting. His visit is set to begin on 25 June and will include bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Russia, China, and several Central Asian nations.
However, defence ministry sources have ruled out any talks with Pakistan’s Defence Minister, citing Islamabad’s continued support for cross-border terrorism as the reason. Rajnath Singh’s visit is part of a broader flurry of diplomatic activity within the SCO framework. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also expected to visit India in the coming weeks for Special Representative (SR)-level boundary talks. Though the dates for Wang’s visit remain undecided, it signals a cautious reopening of high-level India-China engagement following months of guarded diplomacy.
This follows a series of recent engagements between Indian and Chinese leadership across various channels. On 21 October last year, a significant border pact was signed. Two days later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan. In November, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Wang Yi, followed by a bilateral between Defence Ministers Rajnath Singh and Dong Jun on 20 November. The 32nd WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination) talks were held in Delhi on 5 December, followed by SR-level discussions in Beijing on 18 December.
Looking ahead, the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting is scheduled for July, and the organisation’s annual summit is set to take place in September. Both events are seen as important platforms for India to assert its regional interests, especially at a time when the geopolitical landscape in Asia continues to shift.
