In 2018, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres applauded the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for its leading role in regional diplomacy and contribution to develop multilateral cooperation to address the pressing peace and security issues. He called the Eurasian bloc an important partner in combating terrorism, violent extremism and drug trafficking.
Home to about half of the world population and 60% of the geographical expanse from the Baltics to the Pacific, ; the word “cooperation” right in the middle of the SCO was also the buzzword in the joint statement issued by the Council of Heads of State at the conclusion of the 23rd annual summit, held virtually in India.
At the annual gathering, leaders from China, Russia, Pakistan, India and four Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan stressed on boosting cooperation and pursuing a policy that excludes "bloc, ideology and confrontational approaches" to address development as well as traditional and non-traditional security challenges.
In a sharp contrast to other inherently “like-minded” alliances of threatening appearance such as NATO, G7, the Quad and the AUKUS – the SCO is a heterogeneous collection of mostly less-powerful countries with conflicting interests; the world needs these sorts of arrangements to exchange communication relating to the economic and security issues among the traditional rival countries rather than pursuing all-is-well approach.
For instance during the online meeting, the Pakistani and Indian prime ministers sparred over minority persecution and support of cross-border terrorism. Similarly, New Delhi accused Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of infringing its territorial integrity as rest of the member states reaffirmed their support for the project. It may be portrayed negatively to downplay the SCO importance but actually, this rhetoric triggers a flurry of conversation among the intellectuals of the member states on issues that really matter to regional security and prosperity.
For instance, in a recent webinar on the SCO summit 2023, academics and experts from China, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia shared their countries’ contributions in various areas and underscored the importance of promoting the “Shanghai Spirit” for its ability to address urgent issues such as climate change, extremism and technological advancement, strengthen regional security and foster economic prosperity.
With Iran’s accession to the SCO as a full member and Belarus signing the memorandum of obligations at the summit as well as Bahrain’s gaining the status of dialogue partner – it’s increasingly transforming into a consortium of developing and emerging states that has expanded across Asia, is knocking the European doors and could soon tempt African and Latin American and the Caribbean countries.
Already the platform is threatening to show its muscle in the developing and emerging world. As of 2022, Iran, Belarus, Afghanistan and Mongolia were observer states; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey, an important NATO member state whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended last year’s SCO head of states' summit in Samarkand, held the status of dialogue partners.
Kuwait, the Maldives, Myanmar and the United Arab Emirates in May signed the memorandums and gained the status of the SCO dialogue partners. The Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan expressed his delight of being welcomed in an organization “whose global influence and importance only continue to grow.” Earlier in March, Saudi Arabia’s cabinet headed by King Salman bin Abdul Aziz approved the Kingdom’s decision to join the SCO as a dialogue partner.
This as well as almost a dozen of countries including Egypt, Ukraine and Vietnam, all of which have applied for observer or dialogue status, exhibits the inclusiveness and scope of the SCO as a strong political, economic and security alliance to play an effective and inspiring role in bringing stability to the world economy and security through international cooperation.
The SCO also focuses on cooperation with regional and international organizations. The institution’s legal framework of foreign relations emphasizes cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Both the SCO and the United Nations (UN) have established partnerships in educational, scientific and cultural, tourism, migration, drugs and crime, social and economic for Asia-Pacific and counter-terrorism cooperation. The SCO has been an observer in the UN General Assembly since 2005; the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and the Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia maintain regular contacts with the SCO officials. The heads of all these institutions have been also invited for this year’s virtual summit in India.
Over the years, the organization has widened its focus to development, building a democratic structure of international relations and preventing global trade from unilateral protectionist measures. The SCO significance as the world’s largest and most populous regional cooperation institution with the Heads of State forming the highest decision-making body repulses its characterization as a server of a single country’s interests and an anti-western grouping.
The stated SCO goals – strengthening mutual confidence and good neighborly relations, effective cooperation in politics, trade, climate change, economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transportation and tourism; jointly maintaining peace and security; and creating a new, democratic and just political and economic international order – further underline the SCO is common forum to accelerate cooperation and promote regional growth and prosperity.
A growing interest of the countries to join the successor of the Shanghai Five is indicative of the SCO triumph as a cooperative and inclusive organization. While the trend signals a shift in economic gravity from west to east in the foreseeable future, it suggests countries around the world are keen to align themselves with alliances that prioritize cooperation and take into account their development challenges rather than the ones, which push them into conflicts or making choices.
*My article that first appeared in the Express Tribune: