Overview

• China confirms the SCO summit will run August 31–September 1 in Tianjin, with President Xi Jinping chairing sessions, delivering keynotes, and hosting a welcome banquet and bilateral meetings.
• More than 20 leaders are expected, including India’s Narendra Modi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, in what Beijing bills as a meeting of friendship, unity and concrete results.
• The SCO counts 10 members spanning China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian states, and is frequently portrayed by analysts as a counterweight to Western-led security groupings.
• Modi’s trip, his first to China since 2018, follows new 50% U.S. tariffs on Indian goods and is expected to include multiple bilaterals, with experts saying Washington’s policies will loom over talks.
• Iran’s deeper turn toward China and Russia after joining the SCO and BRICS features in the agenda context, with experts citing Tehran’s outreach for Chinese air‑defense equipment and its parallel thaw with Gulf states following recent strikes on its nuclear program.