25-04-2023 : India, China defence ministers to meet at SCO summit after Galwan clash SCO Defence Ministers’ summit to be held in Delhi on April 28 Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to hold a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart General Li Shangfu on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ summit to be held in Delhi on Thursday.
The two leaders will be meeting for the first time since both Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a deadly clash in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan valley in May 2020, resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers. The Defence Ministers’ meeting will include discussions on matters concerning regional peace and security, counter-terrorism efforts within the SCO, and effective multilateralism. Besides the SCO member countries, two observer countries, Belarus and Iran, will also participate in the summit. India attaches special importance to SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions in the region, the defence ministry said.
The ongoing engagement with SCO has helped India promote its relations with the countries in the region with which India has shared civilizational linkages and is considered India’s extended neighbourhood. The SCO pursues its policy based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, non-interference in internal affairs, equality of all member States, and mutual understanding and respect for opinions of each of them.