Decoding the Relevance of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Grouping

14 July 2023, NIICE Commentary 8689
Bhawna

Recently, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) annual meeting took place which was hosted by India virtually. The chosen theme for the SCO Summit 2023 under the chairmanship of India was- ‘Towards a SECURE SCO’ which was based on the acronym used by the Indian Prime Minister Narender Modi at the Qingadao summit in 2018 which simply means- S: Security, E: Economic Development, C: Connectivity, U: Unity, R: Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity. It is for the first time that India held a rotating presidency of the grouping since its entry in the SCO group as a full- member at the Astana summit of 2018. The SCO group is the successor of the Shanghai Five and was formed in 2001 by China and Russia with the objective of deeper economic security and political integration among its member countries.

At present, the world has been grappling with so many challenges which are primarily shaped by security, economic, culture and political concerns and has massive implications for the entire international community. Evidently, the current world order has been constantly moving towards an aspiring new multipolar world order which is more inclusive and co-equal in character. In the situation where no country can predict the next move of its counterpart precisely, trusted collaborations is the key to maintain stability in the long-run in fact there has been multiple channel available by which two or more countries can establish a group or organization based on their shared interests. And SCO is one such type of group that is created to effectuate the shared strategic interests of its member states along with their individual interests. In this virtual summit, political leaders of respective member states come together and had discussed issues of global importance but the inclusion of Iran as a member state of SCO has been the highlight of the whole summit which is the symbol of ‘Inclusive Representation’ at global level.

Furthermore, India has curated five new focus area for enhanced cooperation and deeper engagement among its member states which consist of (a) startups and Innovation, (b) Digital Inclusion, (c) Youth Empowerment, (d) Traditional Medicine and (e) Shared Buddhist Heritage. The Indian PM has also emphasized upon the importance of connectivity for strengthening trade and trust among the SCO member states while called for urgency to uphold the fundamental provisions of the SCO charter, with primary focus on respecting member states sovereignty and regional integrity. However, India declined to be a part of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which is attributed to the projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as it is considered a violation of its sovereignty. On the other hand, the Chinese President has celebrated the ten years anniversary of BRI and has also promoted his new Global Security Initiative (GSI) which aims to create a diplomatic and security infrastructure and attempts to break the dominance of western-led global governance system in terms of providing comprehensive and sustainable security to the entire Asian region.

Likewise, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin had also joined the virtual summit right after the momentary ‘Wagner Mutiny’ and re-assured the leaders for Russia’s peace and solidity. He talked about the potential risk of global economic crisis and conflicts that would have some serious security implications in the future. He also mentioned that Russia considers countries such as India, China and Iran as an indispensable partner that could help Russia against American hegemony and its unilateral actions intended to dominate the world order. In fact, Putin has proposed an economic system in which the SCO members can trade uninterruptedly using their local currencies without being impacting much from the economic sanctions imposed by the western states during the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Moreover, the world leaders are already aware about the prevailing situation in Pakistan that has been dealing with economic crisis and political instability over the past few years and running out of finance to cope with the situation and the crisis has been further accelerated by the Russia- Ukraine war which had a spillover effect all over the world.

Evidently, the Inter-national community has been dealing with so many challenges but the security concerns would always remain a top most priority for each country attributed to the series of uncertain geo-political events therefore a grouping like SCO could possibly viewed as a sustainable option for its member states to fulfil their own strategic interests. Despite having long- standing differences between India- Pakistan, and India-China, SCO grouping put these countries on a table together and allows them to have a comprehensive discourse on a wide range of issues. The SCO grouping still holds significant relevance at present as it provides a level playing field to its member states and act as a podium to voice out their individual concerns globally. This grouping would certainly has paved the way for its member countries to be able to fulfill their security interests and restore peace and stability in the region. All the SCO members have mutually agreed that they would not install bloc, confrontational or ideological approaches to deal with the security issues but rather focus on an inclusive security approach which is intended to restore the overall ‘Balance of Power’ in the region. The inclusion of Iran into the SCO grouping along with Belarus who has also signed a memorandum of obligations to acquire SCO’s membership in 2024, has a symbolic significance in term countering western-led dominance in every sphere.

India and China, both are emerging market economies and has been moving towards becoming major market economy in the coming few years in terms of per capita income therefore, both the countries have immense potential to influence the world politics to greater extent. Both are trying to align their individual strategic interests with the SCO’s shared goals and played a consequential role in building a strong economic infrastructure against the risk of expected economic global catastrophe. Being one of the largest democracies in the world, India has been making constant efforts towards building a peaceful and stable international community through various diplomatic channels. As of now, the SCO members have been attempting to internalize various economic and security issues through having a comprehensive discourse and making a deliberate efforts in terms of expanding the horizon of its membership as well as area of cooperation in every sphere.

Bhawna is Research Scholar at School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.