China, Russia, Iran and Others Gather as SCO Summit Opens in Kyrgyzstan

[Financial News] The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, led by anti-Western countries including China, Russia and Iran, opened on the 31st in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, beginning a two-day schedule.
The meeting, which runs through the 1st of next month, was attended by 17 heads of state, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi, and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres.
At the summit, leaders are expected to focus on the war in Iran. Foreign media outlets say the participating leaders are likely to limit themselves to symbolic expressions of solidarity with Iran, as they cannot ignore the United States government's warning of sweeping sanctions on third countries that cooperate with Iran.
During the meeting, Xi Jinping, Putin, Modi and Pezeshkian are expected to hold separate bilateral talks in addition to the plenary session to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation. Putin, who has prolonged the Russia-Ukraine War for four years and six months, is likely to use the summit to once again show that Russia is not isolated internationally.
Xi Jinping and Putin held a summit in Bishkek on the day. It came ahead of Xi's planned visit to the United States in September, where he is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for a summit later this year.
Ahead of the talks, Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy aide at the Kremlin, told Interfax and other outlets on the 28th that the two leaders were scheduled to discuss the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline project. First proposed in 2006, the 2,600-kilometer pipeline would transport 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Russia's Yamal LNG field through Mongolia to China.
China is reportedly asking for prices to be lowered to Russian domestic levels. Russia urgently needs sales to China after the Russia-Ukraine War cut off its European market, but analysts say the two sides have not been able to narrow their differences over pricing. Although the strategic partnership between China and Russia has grown even stronger amid the war, their calculations over the major unresolved issue of the Power of Siberia 2 have not easily converged. Whether the summit will produce any breakthrough is another key point to watch.
Xi Jinping, who arrived in Bishkek the previous day for a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, is expected to reaffirm stronger strategic ties through bilateral talks with Kyrgyzstan. Xi said he plans to exchange in-depth views with President Japarov during the state visit on bilateral relations, sector-specific cooperation, and international and regional issues of mutual interest.
China's state-run English-language newspaper Global Times, citing Chinese experts, said the talks could expand bilateral cooperation beyond existing trade, investment and transport infrastructure projects to include green development, the digital economy, artificial intelligence (AI) and multilateral cooperation.
The SCO summit is a multilateral cooperation body founded in 2001 by China and Russia together with four Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. With the addition of India, Pakistan, Iran and Republic of Belarus, the number of member states has now reached 10.

[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Desk Reporter