Ahead of the much-awaited Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir landed in "all-weather tested friend", China. According to a report by Pakistan English daily, Dawn, the defence chief left the country on a four-day official visit, aiming to enhance bilateral military relations with Beijing.
“COAS is on a four-day official visit to China for enhancing bilateral military relations,” the military’s media wing said in a brief statement released on Sunday.
Notably, the visit, which Islamabad dubbed as "crucial", came at a time when India is set to host SCO Summit 2023 from April 27-28.
Pakistan Defence minister to skip Delhi trip, join SCO meeting virtually
According to The Express Tribune, it is yet not decided whether the COAS will attend the crucial meeting in the Indian national capital but added its Defence Minister Khawja Asif will attend the scheduled meeting virtually. Earlier, it was expected that Asif would join the SCO Summit in person.
Notably, the cash-strapped nation is taking a risk of skipping the event in person at a time when his counterparts from China and Russia will be in New Delhi this week.
SCO Summit
It is worth mentioning that SCO is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai in 2001. The SCO currently comprises of eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).
