Chinese and Russian defense ministers have confirmed their attendance at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) scheduled to be held in Delhi from April 27-28, an official familiar with the matter said Sunday.
Chinese Defense Minister Li Sang Fu and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu are due to hold bilateral talks with Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on his April 27th meeting, an important meeting of the SCO’s defense ministers. Officials said it will take place a day later. was named to be
India plans to host her SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in May. These meetings will culminate in her SCO summit in July, where India will host an event for the first time since joining the group in 2017. SCO is made up of her eight member states: India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Lee’s visit to New Delhi for the SCO defense ministers’ meeting comes as the border dispute between India and China in eastern Ladakh is expected to enter its fourth year in early May. Despite his four withdrawals from the Galwan Valley, Pangongtso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese forces each withdrawn his 60,000+ troops and advanced weaponry. It remains in the theater of operations in Ladakh.
The Indian and Chinese forces have held talks 17 times so far, but the issues of Depsang in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector and the Charding Nullah Junction (CNJ) in the Demchok sector are still on the negotiating table.
Li’s visit to India was the first visit by a Chinese defense minister to India since the Galwan conflict in June 2020, souring bilateral relations. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in his seven-hour fighting which took place near his point 14 Patroiling in the Galwan Valley. Indian estimates put the PLA’s casualties at twice the level of the Indian army, but the Chinese government officially claims that only four Chinese soldiers were killed.
On April 19, Singh expressed confidence in the Indian military to handle contingencies along its border with China…the best way.
Shoigu will visit India for the first time since the Russian-Ukrainian crisis erupted last year. Complexities stemming from the extensive sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and its allies in the wake of the war in Ukraine pose new challenges to India’s defense relationship with Russia, testing India’s military readiness and adding Awarded for reducing reliance on imported military hardware to maintain combat readiness.