If the main meeting of this summit takes place on Friday, it is the bilateral meeting between the presidents of China and Russia on Thursday that will be most scrutinized, their countries are at the heart of an international diplomatic crisis. For Vladimir Putin, who is trying to speed up the pivot to Asia in the face of Western sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, this summit is an opportunity to show that Russia is not isolated on the world stage.

“Alternative” to the West

Xi Jinping, making his first overseas trip to Central Asia since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, could further cement his position as top leader ahead of the Chinese Communist Party congress in October where he seeks a third term. Their meeting also had an air of defiance hurled at the United States, which has taken the lead in sanctions against Moscow and military support for kyiv, and which has drawn Beijing’s ire with visits by several American officials to Taiwan.

“The Shanghai Cooperation Organization offers a real alternative to Western-oriented structures,” Kremlin diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday. It is “the largest organization in the world, comprising half the planet’s population” and works for a “just international order”, he added. Ahead of the leaders’ arrival in Samarkand, a former major crossroads of trade routes between China and Europe, movement in the city, placed under high security, was restricted and the airport closed to commercial flights. The streets of the city known for its mosques and mausoleums covered in blue mosaics were almost deserted on Wednesday, reporters said.

Schools will be closed on Thursdays and Fridays. The SCO, whose members are China, Russia, India, Pakistan and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, was formed in 2001 as a tool for political, economic and security cooperation that competes with Western organizations. It is not a military alliance like NATO, or a political integration organization like the European Union, but its members work together to address common security challenges and promote trade. The conflict in Ukraine, the situation in Afghanistan or even the unrest that has rocked several Central Asian countries in recent months should be among the main topics discussed.

Bilateral meeting

The main session of this week’s summit will take place on Friday, but the main focus will be on some of the bilateral meetings scheduled on the sidelines. So, in addition to Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin will meet separately Thursday with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, whose country wants to join the SCO, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Friday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Prior to the summit, Xi Jinping went to Kazakhstan on Wednesday, where he met with the president.