President Vladimir Putin landed in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin to attend a summit hosted by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping with about 20 other world leaders, AFP reported.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting is being held in the port city until 1 September, just a few days before a major military parade in the capital Beijing on 3 September to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The SCO includes China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus, with 16 other countries as observers or "dialogue partners."

Russian and Chinese state media reported at around 9:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. Bulgarian time) on August 31 that Putin had landed in Tianjin.

China and Russia sometimes present the SCO as an alternative to the NATO military alliance.

More than 20 leaders, including Iranian President Mazoud Pezeshkian and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will attend the bloc's largest meeting since its founding in 2001.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with leaders, including Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, in Tianjin on August 30.

Other bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit will also be held.

Putin is expected to hold talks on September 1 with Turkish President Erdogan and Iranian President Pezeshkian on the conflict in Ukraine and Tehran's nuclear program.

"Putin needs all the advantages that the SCO offers as a player on the world stage, as well as the support of the world's second-largest economy. Russia is also seeking to win over India, and India's trade friction with the US provides that opportunity," said Lim Tai Wei, a professor and expert on East Asia at Soka University in Japan.

The summit comes just days after India was hit by a sharp increase in US tariffs on its goods as punishment for buying Russian oil.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Tianjin on Saturday evening after a visit to Japan, marking the start of his first visit to China since 2018.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto canceled his visit as the country was hit by large-scale demonstrations. | BGNES