Xi calls for regional peace at SCO summit
President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged the leaders of Russia, Iran and other Shanghai alliance states to boost ties and resist sanctions, as his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin thanked the bloc for support during a failed rebellion. Addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit hosted by India via video link, Xi "called for efforts to safeguard regional peace and ensure common security", Xinhua News Agency said, adding that he urged member states to enhance solidarity. The president stressed the need to uphold multilateralism and improve global governance, and called for efforts against hegemonism and power politics. Putin thanked the Beijing-headquartered SCO, joining his first summit since a short-lived mutiny last month after the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led a failed rebellion against the Kremlin. "Russia is confidently resisting and will continue to resist external pressure, sanctions and provocations," Putin told the bloc. The SCO summit, which on Tuesday welcomed Iran as its ninth member, also saw an apparent dig by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at arch-rival and fellow SCO member Pakistan. "Some countries use cross border terrorism as an instrument in their policies, (they) give shelter to terrorists," said Modi, the host of the virtual meeting, without naming specific nations. (AFP and agencies)