China, Pakistan and Bangladesh working together to form new regional bloc to succeed SAARC: Report

China, Pakistan and Bangladesh held a trilateral meeting in Kunming on June 19 to discuss the formation of a new multilateral regional organization, according to media reports.

The initiative comes at a time when the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) remains inactive, and diplomatic tensions have hindered its revival.

The three nations discussed “reviving regional cooperation” in South Asia and forming a new platform, as per the joint statement released after the meeting.

The statement highlighted the need for strengthening multilateral collaboration among countries in the region, and proposed establishing an alternative forum to SAARC, which has been non-functional since 2016.

The report notes that while no formal name or structure for the new bloc was announced, the talks marked the first concrete effort by any group of SAARC countries to move forward without India's involvement.

There was no mention of India in the official statement released after the Kunming meeting.

According to a report by Indian Express, the idea is to explore participation of countries that were previously active in SAARC — such as Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan — although their involvement has not been confirmed. The joint statement did not specify which countries might be included in the new bloc.

China, which is not a SAARC member, was a key participant in the Kunming discussions. Its involvement signals Beijing’s growing interest in influencing South Asia’s multilateral space, particularly as India has distanced itself from SAARC in recent years.

SAARC, established in 1985, has not held a summit since 2015. Its 2016 summit in Islamabad was cancelled after India withdrew in the wake of the Uri terror attack. Since then, no summit has been convened, and the organization remains largely inactive.

The Kunming meeting ended with an agreement to continue exploring the structure and objectives of the proposed grouping. Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the meeting as part of an “ongoing dialogue for regional development and cooperation” and clarified that the conversation was non-political in nature.

As of now, India has not issued any official response to the Kunming meeting or the idea of an alternate bloc.