Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

What is the SCO?

A permanent multinational intergovernmental organisation is the SCO.
Keeping the peace, security, and stability in the area is the goal of this Eurasian political, economic, and military organisation.
In 2001, it was founded.
In 2003, the SCO Charter came into effect after being signed in 2002.
It is a legal document that describes the organization’s objectives, guiding principles, organisational structure, and main functions.
Chinese and Russian are the two official languages of the SCO.

Genesis

The Shanghai Five, which included Tajikistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia, existed prior to the establishment of the SCO in 2001.
The Shanghai Five (1996) was the result of several boundary delineation and demilitarisation negotiations between China and the four former Soviet republics to maintain peace along the boundaries.
The Shanghai Five was renamed the SCO after Uzbekistan joined the organisation in 2001.
Pakistan and India joined in 2017.

Objectives

enhancing neighbourliness and respect between the member states.
encouraging efficient collaboration in the fields of politics, trade, the economy, science, and culture.
strengthening connections in areas such as environmental protection, energy, transportation, and tourism.
Maintain and uphold the region’s peace, security, and stability.
creation of a new international political and economic order that is democratic, fair, and logical.
guiding principle based on the spirit of Shanghai
Internal regulations founded on the ideals of equality, mutual benefit, mutual trust, respect for cultural variety, and a desire for shared advancement.
A foreign policy based on the non-alignment, non-targeting of any third country, and openness tenets.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization organisational structure
The top SCO body, the Heads of State Council, decides how the organisation will operate internally, interact with other States and international organisations, and take into account global challenges.
The Heads of Government Council approves the budget and makes decisions about matters pertaining to economic interactions within the SCO.
Considers daily operations-related topics in the Council of Foreign Ministers.
To combat terrorism, separatism, and extremism, the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) was created.
Beijing-based SCO Secretariat is responsible for providing organisational, analytical, and informational support.

Operations

The SCO first concentrated on cooperative efforts within the area to combat terrorism, separatism, and extremism in Central Asia.
The fight against global drug trafficking as a source of funding was added to the SCO’s agenda in 2006.
The SCO actively contributed to the stabilisation of Afghanistan in 2008.
The SCO simultaneously engaged in a number of commercial endeavours, including:
A free trade zone will be established on the territory governed by the SCO member states as part of a 20-year programme of multilateral trade and economic cooperation signed in 2003 by the SCO member states.

Advantages of SCO

The SCO includes 22% of the world’s landmass, 20% of the global GDP, and 40% of the world’s people.
Due to its geographic importance, the SCO plays a crucial strategic role in Asia, allowing it to exert control over Central Asia and reduce American influence there.
SCO is viewed as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s counterbalance.

Combating terrorism, extremism, and separatism; trafficking in drugs and weapons; illegal immigration; and other issues are among the security difficulties facing the SCO.
The great diversity of the members’ histories, experiences, languages, national interests, forms of government, wealth, and cultures makes the SCO decision-making difficult despite their proximity geographically.

India’s SCO membership may aid in promoting connectivity and stability across borders, as well as regional integration.

By focusing on intelligence sharing, law enforcement, and the development of best practises and technologies, India may strengthen its counterterrorism capabilities through RATS.
India can combat the spread of small weapons and drug trafficking through the SCO.
collaboration on shared terrorist and radicalization challenges.

India, a country with a lack of energy and rising energy demands, has a chance to satisfy these needs through regional diplomacy thanks to the SCO.
The SCO can provide a much-needed boost to negotiations on the building of delayed pipelines like the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline and IPI (Iran- Pakistan-India).

The biggest obstacle to the thriving of trade between India and Central Asia has been removed by the SCO by providing direct access to Central Asia.
The SCO serves as a different route to Central Asia.
Economic ties – India’s IT, telecommunications, banking, finance, and pharmaceutical industries have access to markets in Central Asian nations.

India’s extended neighbourhood includes Central Asia, and the SCO gives India the chance to advance its “Connect Central Asian Policy.”
aids India in realising its ambition to take an active part in its wider neighbourhood and to restrain China’s expanding influence in Eurasia.
Platform for India to interact with both its enemies, China and Pakistan, as well as its longtime ally, Russia.
Challenges of India’s SCO Membership
The addition of Pakistan to the SCO could cause problems for India.
India’s ability to exert itself would be constrained, and it would even be forced to take a backseat given that China and Russia are the SCO’s leading countries and co-founders of the organisation.
India might also need to either temper its expanding alliance with the West or do a delicate balancing act, given the SCO has historically taken an anti-Western stance.