History of shanghai co-operation organization
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The shanghai co-operation organization is an organization of intergovernmental started on June 15, 2001. During its establishment, it had five-member states; China, Russia, Tajikistan Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The SCO was established to focus on security-related concerns, countering terrorism, military co-operation, intelligence sharing, resolving issues of their borders, and finally countering the influence of Americans in Central Asia. Up to date the SCO has increased its member state. This paper will discuss the history of shanghai’s co-operation organization and the development of shanghai co-operation organization and, finally, the roles it performs to provide beneficial results to its member states.
History of shanghai co-operation organization
SCO originated in 1996 with its member states, Russia and China, with also observer countries Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Later in 2001, the five countries decided to establish a permanent organization, SCO. Besides its founding members, Uzbekistan has also joined the organization has it, permanent member. In 2004 and 2005, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, and Iran joined SCO as observer members. In 2017 Pakistan and India also joined as permanent members of SCO, making the organization cover up to 40% of the population globally. SCO is also considering accepting Iran, the US-NATO ally, and Turkey as it, full members.
The states which joined SCO later after its foundation signed a memorandum in 2016 to become a permanent member of shanghai co-operation organization. Currently, SCO has its 8 permanent member states, which are; China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.SCO also has six states, which are Dialogue partners, including; Turkey, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Armenia, Cambodia, and Azerbaijan and observer states, Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, and Belarus.
Shanghai co-operation organization, since its foundation, plays a crucial role in security issues regionally, ethnic separatism, defense against terrorism regionally, and religious extremism. Apart from those roles currently, it focuses and priorities are increasing regional integration, regional development, and also regional co-operation among its state member countries.
The general assembly of the UN has observed the shanghai co-operation organization since 2005. In April 2010, a joint declaration for co-operation was signed by the UN and SCO. Since then SCO has started partnerships with World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), UN Educational, scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and finally the UN Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNCT). In 2017 there was an SCO summit in Astana (Kazakhstan), and UN Secretary-General attended this Summit. In 2018 SCO summit in Qingdao (China) UN Deputy Secretary-General also attended and participated
Russia-China relationship is the founder of SCO. In recent decades of the Cold war between the 1950s and 1960s, China and the Soviet Union formed a relationship as communist powers associated with opposition to the Capitalist West. In 1972 following the US president Nixons opening to china politically, the Russia-China collaboration fell as China started co-operation with the US to investigate the power increase of the Soviet Union. In 1990s after end of Cold war, China-Russia rapprochement started, which ultimately lead to involving three observer countries (Tajikistan Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) to form SCO by the year 2001.
SCO military goals
In 2004 Regional Antiterrorism Structure (RATS) was started and mandated to combat drug smuggling cross-border and in terrorism countering. SCO headquarters is in Beijing, but its regional anti-terrorist operations are situated in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. In 2007 SCO agreed with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that Russia leads an alliance with Soviet republics, To strengthen and deepen co-operation on drug trafficking and security. Besides these agreements and collaborations, SCO officially declares that its intentions are not of being an alliance of formal defense.
China, Russia, and the republics of Central Asian seek to start greater security all over the region. Besides Russian’s experience in terrorism in Chechnya and China to end up terrorist groups arising from the restive Muslim population, The Central Asian states are also worried about terrorists from groups of Islamists in several of their countries. Apart from these worries of China and Central Asia states all other members of SCO are also worried about unrest in Afghanistan neighboring spilling to other countries that are bordering them.
Economic efforts of SCO
In addition to military goals, SCO has also embarked on long-term actions to forge the entire continent of Asia’s economic integration. SCO’s vision of geoeconomic is to build a new network of railways, ports, and roads that will connect Russian, European, Central Asia, and China’s eastern seaboard markets while also involving West Asia and South Asia in these vast actions of the economy.
The vision of geoeconomic was underscored by ambitions of china One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative which is currently called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), comprising US$1 trillion in several projects for constructing roads, infrastructure, ports and railways across Asia. This project is among the ambitious and vast infrastructure projects historically. Currently, six multilateral development banks have joined china to start a center of co-operation internationally for the BRI.
BRI is helping China to bring developments and economic inclusion in its underdeveloped regions (Western and Central areas), where China has faced growth unrest in the past years, and to widen its economic influence in the newly made markets among the Asian region. Some observers say that China is using the efforts of multinationals for domestic goals of its economy and to export its production capacity and relocate abroad to its factories. By doing so, China helps to transfer its set of engineering and technical standards to other countries globally.
Besides Russia declining power regionally, it is the major exporter of energy and also maintains a strong base of military-industrial. Russia needs to expand its gas and oil exports and its hardware of military sales, both of which are provided by the Asian region and China. Through Russians deteriorating relationships with the West, it tries to make more collaboration and partnerships through Asia like a priority.
China has technology for the military but is not on par with Russians military technology. On the other hand, China has economic prowess at the rise compared to the economic prowess of Russia. SCO is the core of these two countries(Russia and China) to bring a baseline of Russia-China strategic bargain- China has money, and Russia has guns and military weapons. With Pakistan and India on board, and with Iran and Turkey on waiting to become SCO member, SCO would become a more significant military force which could bring reckoning by the West.
Iran as an observer state of SCO
Bringing in Iran as a permanent member of SCO has been observance and observer status since 2005, and in 2008, Iran was lobbying for permanent membership with SCO. Iran was blocked from SCO’s full membership because of its international economic sanctions put against it because of its association with nuclear activities. In 2015 the Iran sanction was lifted following the nuclear agreement with P5+1 powers; both China and Russia have started to support Iran to becoming an SCO full member.
In 2015 China and Iran had close diplomatic and economic ties with the aim to end Iran s sanctions. Besides the close ties in 2015, in 2016, Iran and China signed an agreement of 25 years on strategic co-operation that would bring the two countries closer to intelligence and defense ties, and strengthening naval capacities of Iran in the Indian Ocean. Russia has to been stepping up to have Iran’s military coordination. These efforts between Iran and Russian are aimed to shore the Syria Assad regime. Russia and Iran also are cooperating to develop combat drones. If Iran ever becomes an SCO full member, it will provide a fifth nuclear arsenal to the group.
Turkey as a dialogue partner with SCO
Turkey, a NATO member, became a dialogue partner with SCO in 2012. In 2016, Turkey announced that it could leave NATO regardless of their 11 years bid and join the European Union (EU) and later seek permanent membership with SCO. EU has frozen the talks of co-operation with Turkey because of the political repression that brought a coup attempt.
If Turkey ever becomes a member of SCO, it might be required to renounce its membership in NATO. In 2018, Turkey bought an S- 400 long-range, surface-to-air missile defense system from Russia after NATO decided in 2015 for the removal of their patriot missile batteries from Southern Turkey. After Turkey bought the S-400 missile from Russia, it is a threat to other NATO members. Russia is also selling this missile to China and thinks of bringing this motion to India.
Both China and Russia have fully welcomed Turkey as SCO’s full member. Russia and China offered Turkey chairmanship of the energy club of SCO from 2017 to 2018; hence by this Turkey, the first dialogue partner to be a chairman of SCO club without yet achieving its full membership status. The Turkey-China is increasing daily and recently is at US$ 30 billion after building of railways and usage of high-speed trains. Geostrategic location of China and its proximity to markets of the European helps it to serve as a host for projects of the gas pipeline, some being underway and will serve a link in BRI plans of infrastructure in China.
Conclusion
The emergence of SCO has brought a point of historic inflection in politics internationally.SCO continues to form more alliances by adding India and Pakistan and the possibility of adding Turkey and Iran in the future. By combining many members as possible, SCO is strengthened daily to act as a defense military group against all its enemies. After the emergence of SCO, it does mean that its members can’t have relationships with western countries, for example, Russia provides Europe with gas, and it is yet to resolve its issues and repair its relations with Moscow. China also embarks on an agreement with the US in reductions of Carbon emissions. Rising of SCO is a more profound underlying symbol of unity among Asian regions, expanding their power, economy, and political control over other groups with bad motions against Asian countries.