In a first after Galwan, China Defence Minister to be in Delhi for SCO huddle

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will chair the meeting. Issues related to terrorism, regional security and the security situation in Afghanistan are among topics expected to dominate the meeting.

While India had invited Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to the meeting, there is no confirmation yet whether he will attend it.

The SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting will be followed by a meeting of the Foreign Ministers on May 5 in Goa, for which Pakistan Foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has confirmed participation.

The terror attack in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week has the potential to cast a shadow on these visits, if investigations point to the involvement of Pakistan-based terror groups.

This is the first time since the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes that the Chinese Defence Minister Li will be visiting Delhi. Despite disengagement at certain friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, border tensions between the two countries continue to simmer with no resolution reached on the legacy friction points. In December last year, Chinese and Indian troops clashed at Yangtse in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh.

This will also be Russian Defence Minister Shoigu’s first visit to India since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict last year. The visit comes amid a series of high-level engagements between India and Russia, such as the visit of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov for the 24th India-Russia talks.