Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who arrived in Beijing the previous day, will take part in the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The event will be held on July 14–15 in the city of Tianjin.
China is the final stop of the Russian diplomat’s tour of Asian countries. From July 10 to 11, Lavrov was in Kuala Lumpur, where he attended ASEAN foreign ministers’ meetings. From the Malaysian capital, he traveled on a three-day visit to Wonsan, a port city in North Korea, where a tourist zone opened on July 1.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the ministerial meeting in Tianjin will be a key stage in preparations for the SCO summit, which will also take place in Tianjin from August 30 to September 1. Participants plan to discuss the current state and future prospects of the organization’s activities. Special attention will be given to the current international and regional agenda, including the 80th anniversaries of the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations.
Lavrov has a number of bilateral meetings planned on the sidelines of the event.
Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart already held a separate meeting in Beijing on July 13, where they discussed relations with the United States, prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis, and the agenda of the upcoming SCO summit. The Chinese minister assured that Beijing, together with Moscow, is ready to take the organization to a new level.
Ahead of a Leaders’ Meeting
Both Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly noted that bilateral relations are at their best in history. This is largely due to the personal diplomacy of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who have developed full mutual understanding. As Lavrov himself has stated, in today’s challenging and ever-changing global environment, an ongoing Russia–China dialogue is particularly significant.
In this context, Lavrov faces the important task of preparing Putin’s forthcoming visit to China. Earlier, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that Putin and Xi had agreed not only to take part in the SCO summit in Tianjin but also to hold full-scale bilateral talks on September 2, followed by their joint participation in celebratory events in Beijing on September 3 to mark the 80th anniversary of victory over militarist Japan and the end of World War II.
Lavrov is expected to discuss with the Chinese side the details of Putin’s upcoming visit, as well as the summit agenda with SCO partners.
Growing Risks in Eurasia
The SCO remains a unique platform for dialogue on security in Eurasia, where a number of acute threats have emerged recently. One of them is NATO’s attempt to expand its influence and dictate its terms on the continent. Lavrov addressed this problem during his visit to Malaysia at ASEAN events and also during his trip to North Korea. He is expected to raise the issue again at the Tianjin meeting.
The destructive aims of the North Atlantic alliance affect several dimensions: from attempts to penetrate the Asia-Pacific region and destabilize Central Asia to efforts to prolong the conflict in Ukraine at any cost. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov recently warned about the consequences of this policy for the West itself.
“Realizing the inevitability of defeat, the Kiev regime is resorting to terrorist attacks. With the support of European sponsors, it blows up civilian infrastructure on Russian territory and kills civilians. Attempts to prolong the fighting by supplying Ukraine with weapons and mercenaries increase the risk of destabilization, including within Europe itself,” he said at a meeting of the SCO Council of Defense Ministers.
In addition, the issue of US and Israeli attacks on Iran — a member of the organization — will also likely be addressed at the upcoming meeting. The Russian foreign minister is expected to share his assessments of the situation with his colleagues.
SCO at the Heart of Eurasia
In contrast to Western approaches, the SCO promotes an agenda of unity across the Eurasian space. This is in line with Putin’s concept of a Greater Eurasian Partnership, which envisions open and equal discussions on common security issues and close coordination among integration mechanisms.
The SCO actively cooperates with the CSTO and CIS. According to Zakharova, ASEAN countries have also shown increased interest in engaging with the organization, demonstrating its significant potential for development and expansion.
In particular, in summer 2024, Iran’s national coordinator at the SCO Secretariat, Mehrdad Kiaei, said that Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka had applied for observer status. At the time, he noted the organization was ready to consider and approve these applications. More recently, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry announced Yerevan’s desire to become a full-fledged SCO member — a prospect likely to feature on the ministerial meeting’s agenda as well.
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Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on TASS materials