SCO Summit 2025: China to Host Top Dignitaries and World Leaders, Check List Here

Tianjin: China is all set to hold two major defence-related events in the upcoming week, one is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, happening in Tianjin, and a large-scale military parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, where China emerged victorious over its neighbour, Japan. Together, these events will welcome around two dozen world leaders. 

World leaders will start coming in for the SCO summit, to be held Sunday and Monday in the port city of Tianjin, just southeast of Beijing. Then on Wednesday, there will be a massive military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. The military parade will showcase some of China’s most advanced homegrown weapons, including more than 100 aircraft, and numerous tanks and missiles.

The guest lists of these events, which include notable omissions, are a window into China’s ambitions, alliances and continued attempts to expand its influence. But the guest lists for the SCO summit and the military parade don’t fully overlap, reflecting Beijing’s interests, loyalties and limitations among its neighbours and beyond.

SCO Summit 2025: Top Dignitaries Include

• Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
• Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
• Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey
• Mustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt

Some countries that are not SCO members will also be represented, mostly from Southeast Asia. These include Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam, reflecting China’s desire to shore up its ties within the region.

SCO Summit 2025: Military Parade

Not every guest will stay for the military parade. The leaders of India, Egypt and Turkey will leave Beijing before the military show. Egypt will be represented by a lower-level official. Like most Western countries and their allies, India and Turkey generally refrain from posing alongside China’s top leaders at military parades, which take place every few years.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be joining Xi and Putin in observing the Chinese troops in the military parade. Kim Jong Un, who will not have attended the earlier SCO summit, will meet Xi in more than six years.

Additionally, Myanmar’s junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who is the country’s acting president in the wake of a military coup in 2021, will also attend the military parade. Leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe will also be there to represent their respective countries. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel is also expected to join.

About the SCO Summit:

SCO was established by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and later expanded to include members such as India, Iran, Pakistan and Belarus. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observer states, and 14 other countries, mostly from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, serve as “dialogue partners.” The country hosting the annual summit rotates every year.

India has initially a member of the SCO since 2017, having been an observer since 2005. During its membership period, India has held the chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020 and of the SCO Council of Heads of State from 2022 to 2023. The guest list for the SCO summit includes leaders of the organisation’s 10 member states, along with representatives from almost two dozen other countries, some of which may join the group at a later date.

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