• SCO Summit Challenges the United States

By Shashi P.B.B. Malla

SCO Reach is Murky

The leaders of eight major Euro-Asian countries met in northern China for the 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in a possible challenge to often incoherent approaches by US President Donald Trump to trade and regional conflicts.

The 10-member group gathered on Sunday and Monday in the port city of Tianjin has grown in size and influence over the past 24 years, even while its goals and programmes remain murky and name recognition low.

Some wisecracks call it the scariest grouping you have never heard of (AP/Associated Press/ Christopher Bodeen).

The full membership includes China, Russia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

Originally seen as a foil to US influence in Central Asia, the original organization picked up four new members with the addition of India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024.

Some members are clear antagonists of the political West, especially Iran and close Russian ally Belarus.

Other including India, China and Russia have a more nebulous relationship, either because of Washington’s wobbly stance on Russia’s war with Ukraine or because of chaos surrounding US tariffs that have upended key trading relationships with countries such as China, India, Mexico and Brazil (AP).

The SCO’s two-day summit may shed more light on issues surrounding the group’s activities and intentions.

Growing from regional bloc to encompassing alliance

Since its 2001 founding, the SCO primarily has been dominated by China, the regional economic superpower.

Russia, on the other hand, has sought to use the group to maintain its influence over former Central Asian Soviet Republics Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

While Russia’s economic influence has declined steadily, especially under increasingly severe Western sanctions, both Russia and China have used the quasi-alliance as a framework for regional military cooperation.

Belarus, Iran, Pakistan and India joined later in an apparent attempt to share in the SCO’s budding influence, though the value of their membership is debatable.

The official Xinhua News Agency on Monday called the gathering the “largest-ever SCO summit in history” and said it would be used for “charting the blueprint for the bloc’s next decade of development.”

The leaders of about a dozen other countries have joined the summit as SCO dialogue partners or observers, including Egypt, Nepal and several Southeast Asian nations.

India’s entry challenges the equation

India has long stuck to a self-avowed policy of neutrality, though that may be part of a strategy of self-interest.

Since the Russian-Ukrainian war began, India has become a major buyer of Russian oil, increasing tensions with Washington.

Modi also remarked on “steady progress” in improving relations with China after meeting Wang Yi, its top diplomat in August and noted “respect for each other’s interests and sensitiveness.”

India’s SCO entry potentially challenges Russian and Chinese domination over the association.

Despite their trade ties, India is unlikely to offer meaningful support for Russia’s war in Ukraine or China’s claims to Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Group showcases Xi Jinping’s multipolarity vision

University of Chicago political scientist Dali Yang said the SCO is one of the most prominent regional organisations China has cofounded.

“For China’s leadership, there is a lot of emphasis on maintaining existing relations in the international arena even though the Sco has not been effective in dealing with the major challenges of today,” Yang said (AP).

The summit came just days before a massive military parade through Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II attended by Xi and many other leaders, who were also at the SCO summit.

The parade will also include a rare showing by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

The SCO seems to show a desire to move from a dialogue platform to a “full-fledged mechanism of practical cooperation that brings tangible results to the citizens of the member states,” said June Teufel Dreyer, University of Maimi expert on Chinese affairs.

Yet the question remains, “to what end and how?”

For Xi, “presiding over the gathering in Tianjin should net him some favourable publicity and possibly further his image as leader of a new global world order,” Dreyer said (AP).

The writer can be reached at: shashimalla125@gmail.com