SCO Summit Day 2: Modi–Putin meeting, terror discussions take centre stage

Day 2 of SCO Summit: Modi–Putin talks, joint declaration in focus.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin enters its second and final day on Monday, with attention centred on whether the grouping’s joint declaration will include a reference to the recent Pahalgam terror attacks. Earlier this year, the SCO Defence Ministers’ declaration pointedly mentioned Balochistan but not Pahalgam, prompting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to withhold his signature.

Day 1 saw Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi share a widely discussed handshake, with Xi also voicing support when Modi raised the issue of cross-border terrorism. How this translates into the summit’s final statement remains to be seen.

The headline event today will be PM Modi’s bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks come in the backdrop of Modi’s recent conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and heightened trade tensions with Washington, after US President Donald Trump slapped an additional 50% tariff on Indian exports over Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil. The discussion is also expected to set the stage for Putin’s visit to India later this year.

India will also watch closely whether the joint declaration condemns terrorism in stronger terms and how it addresses Trump’s tariff war, which has unsettled several SCO members, including India, China and Russia. With leaders from Indonesia and Malaysia present, there may also be language critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The summit comes at a sensitive moment in India–Pakistan ties, following India’s retaliatory strikes on terror hubs in Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack. Optics will matter, too: Sunday’s family photograph placed Modi alongside Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif, both seen as close partners on global platforms, including during Operation Sindoor.