The 'Shanghai Cooperation Organisation' ('SCO') is an
intergovernmental mutual-security organization which was founded in
2001 by the leaders of
China,
Russia,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the 'Shanghai Five', founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.
Official names
The official
working languages of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation are
Chinese and
Russian. Here are the official names of the organisation in the two languages, abbreviations in parentheses.
'
Chinese:'
★
Chinese in simplified characters: 上海合作组织 [ ] (上合组织)
★
Romanization: Shànghǎi Hézuò Zǔzhī (Shàng Hé Zǔzhī)
★
Cyrillization: Шанхай Хэцзо Цзучжи (Шанхэ Цзучжи)
'
Russian:'
★
Russian in Cyrillic alphabet: Шанхайская организация сотрудничества (ШОС)
★
Romanization: Shankhayskaya organizatsiya sotrudnichestva (ShOS)
Origins
The Shanghai Five grouping was originally created
April 26 1996 with the signing of the ''Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions'' in
Shanghai by the heads of states of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
April 24 1997 the same countries signed the ''Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions'' in a meeting in
Moscow.
Subsequent annual summits of the Shanghai Five group occurred in
Almaty (Kazakhstan) in 1998, in
Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) in 1999, and in
Dushanbe (Tajikistan) in 2000.
In 2001, the annual summit returned to
Shanghai,
China. There the five member nations first admitted
Uzbekistan in the Shanghai Five mechanism (thus transforming it into the Shanghai Six). Then all six heads of state signed on
June 15, 2001, the ''Declaration of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation'', praising the role played thus far by the Shanghai Five mechanism and aiming to transform it to a higher level of cooperation. In July 2001, Russia and the PRC, the organisation's two leading nations, signed the
Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.
In June 2002, the heads of the SCO member states met in
St. Petersburg, Russia. There they signed the SCO Charter which expounded on the organisation's purposes, principles, structures and form of operation, and established it officially from the point of view of international law.
Activities
Cooperation on security
The SCO is primarily centered around its member nations'
Central Asian security-related concerns, often describing the main threats it confronts as being
terrorism,
separatism and
extremism.
At the June 16-17 2004 SCO summit, held in
Tashkent,
Uzbekistan, the Regional Antiterrorism Structure (RATS) was established. On
21 April,
2006, the SCO announced plans to fight cross-border drug crimes under the counter-terrorism rubric.
[1]
Grigory Logninov claimed in April 2006 that the SCO has no plans to become a military bloc; nonetheless he argued that the increased threats of "terrorism, extremism and separatism" make necessary a full-scale involvement of armed forces.
[2]
There have been a number of SCO joint military exercises. The first of these was held in 2003, with the first phase taking place in Kazakhstan and the second in China.
[3]
On a larger scale, but outside the SCO framework, the first ever joint military exercise between the
PRC and
Russia, called
Peace Mission 2005 started on
August 19,
2005. Following their successful completion, Russian officials have begun speaking of India joining such exercises in the future and the SCO taking on a military role.
The joint military exercises in 2007 took place in
Chelyabinsk Russia, near the
Ural Mountains and close to Central Asia, as was agreed upon on April 2006 at a meeting of SCO Defense Ministers. More than 4,000 soldiers participated from China. Air forces and precision-guided weapons are likely to be used. Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Ivanov said that the exercises will be transparent and open to media and the public.
Economic cooperation
A Framework Agreement to enhance economic cooperation was signed by the SCO member states on
23 September,
2003. At the same meeting the
PRC's Premier,
Wen Jiabao, proposed a long-term objective to establish a
free trade area in the SCO, while other more immediate measures would be taken to improve the flow of goods in the region. A follow up plan with 100 specific actions was signed one year later, on
September 23 2004.
[5][6]
On
26 October 2005, the
Moscow Summit of the SCO, the Secretary General of the Organisation said that the SCO will prioritize joint energy projects; such will include the oil and gas sector, the exploration of new hydrocarbon reserves, and joint use of water resources. The creation of an Inter-bank SCO Council was also agreed upon at that summit in order to fund future joint projects. The first meeting of the SCO Interbank Association was held in Beijing on 21-22 February 2006.
[7][8] On
30 November 2006, at ''The SCO: Results and Perspectives'', an international conference held in
Almaty, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia is developing plans for an SCO "Energy Club".
[9]
Cultural cooperation
Cultural cooperation also occurs in the SCO framework. Culture ministers of the SCO met for the first time in
Beijing on
12 April 2002, signing a joint statement for continued cooperation. The third meeting of the Culture Ministers took place in
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 27-28 April 2006.
[10][11]
An SCO Arts Festival and Exhibition was held for the first time during the
Astana Summit in 2005. Kazakhstan has also suggested an SCO
folk dance festival to take place in 2008, in
Astana.
[12]
Future membership possibilities
Among other nations of the wider region,
Mongolia became the first country to receive observer status at the 2004 Tashkent Summit.
Pakistan,
India and
Iran received observer status at the 2005 SCO summit in
Astana, Kazakhstan on
July 5 2005. Mongolia, Pakistan, and Iran have since applied for full membership to the organisation; India has not.
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister
Li Hui once said that the SCO will not take in new members before its six members make serious studies. Russia's permanent representative in the SCO Secretariat
Grigory Logninov has also claimed that the enlargement of the SCO is impeded by "an immature mechanism of admission of new members", while Secretary General
Zhang Deguang argued that an overexpansion might hinder the intensification of the cooperation.
[13]
In a series of meetings in February 2006 with Chinese officials and media, the President of Pakistan
Pervez Musharraf argued in favour of Pakistan's qualification to join the organisation as a full member. China said that it would convey Pakistan’s desire to all SCO member states. In turn, Musharraf was formally invited to the sixth summit of the SCO to take place in
Shanghai in June 2006.
[14][15]
The SCO has also encouraged
India to join the organisation, saying that they would properly consider a membership application should it decide to join the group.
[16] Russia has been said to support Pakistan's membership only if India joins at the same time;
[17] given the disputes between the two nations, this scenario parallels the simultaneous entry of
Greece and
Turkey as members of
NATO. So far, India has not made an official membership application, but has unofficially made its interest in joining known.
Belarus has also applied for observer status in the organisation and has been promised Kazakhstan's support towards that goal. However, Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Ivanov voiced doubt on the probability of Belarus' membership, saying that Belarus was a purely European country.
Relations with the West
Though the declaration on the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation contained a statement that it "is not an alliance directed against other states and regions and it adheres to the principle of openness", many observers believe that one of the original purposes of the SCO was to serve as a counterbalance to
NATO and the
United States and in particular to avoid conflicts that would allow the United States to intervene in areas near both
Russia and
China. Some observers also believe that the organisation was formed as a direct response to the threat of
missile defense systems by the United States, after the United States reversed course in its nuclear policy and began promoting
National Missile Defense.
The
United States applied for observer status in the SCO, but was rejected in 2005.
[19]
At the Astana summit in July 2005, with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq foreshadowing an indefinite presence of U.S. forces in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the SCO urged the U.S. to set a timetable for withdrawing their troops from SCO member states. Shortly afterwards, Uzbekistan asked the U.S. to leave the
K-2 air base.
[20]
Recently the SCO has made no direct comments against the U.S. or its military presence in the region. However, several indirect statements at the past summits, including the 2007 summit in
Bishkek, have been viewed as "thinly veiled swipes at Washington".
[21]
Membership
See also
★
NATO
★
CSTO
★
Military alliance
★
Sino-Russian relations
External links
★
Official website
★ Official Chinese pages on the SCO from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Xinhua News
'Discussion'
★
The China and Eurasia Forum, an independent research institution.
★
China and Eurasia Quarterly, academic journal covering China-Central Asia relations and the SCO.
'Media'
★
"The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Drug War"
★
"Iran urges Central Asian bloc to counter West"
★
"Iran offers Shanghai bloc energy ties"
★
Declaration on the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
'Articles and research'
★ Oresman, Matthew, , National Defense University Press, August 2004
★ Gill, Bates and Oresman,
Matthew, China’s New Journey to the West: Report on China’s Emergence in Central Asia and Implications for U.S. Interests, CSIS Press, August 2003
★ Yom, Sean L. (2002).
"Power Politics in Central Asia: The Future of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization". ''Harvard Asia Quarterly'' '6' (4) 48-54.
★ Stakelbeck, Frederick W., Jr. (8 August 2005).
"The Shanghai Cooperation Organization". ''FrontPageMagazine.com''.
★ Navrozov, Lev. (17 February 2006).
"The Sino-Russian 'Shanghai Cooperation Organization'". ''NewsMax.com''.
★ Daly, John. (19 July 2001).
"'Shanghai Five' expands to combat Islamic radicals". ''Jane's Terrorism & Security Monitor''.
★ Colson, Charles. (5 August 2003).
"Central Asia: Shanghai Cooperation Organization Makes Military Debut". ''Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty''.
★ Cohen, Dr. Ariel. (18 July 2001).
"The Russia-China Friendship and Cooperation Treaty: A Strategic Shift in Eurasia?". ''The Heritage Foundation''.
★ Cohen, Dr. Ariel. (24 October 2005).
"Competition over Eurasia: Are the U.S. and Russia on a Collision Course?". ''The Heritage Foundation''.
★ John Keefer Douglas, Matthew B. Nelson, and Kevin Schwartz; , United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, October 2006.
References
1. news.xinhuanet.com/english
2. www.interfax.ru/e
3. news.xinhuanet.com/english
4. news.xinhuanet.com/english
5. ictsd.org
6. shaps.hawaii.edu
7. jamestown.org
8. eng.nbu.com
9. eng.gazeta.kz
10. english.people.com.cn
11. eng.gazeta.kz
12. inform.kz
13. news.uzreport.com
14. pakistantimes.net
15. dawn.com
16. news.newkerala.com
17. kommersant.com
18. inform.kz
19. commentisfree.guardian.co.uk
20. svaradarajan.blogspot.com
21. eurasianet.org
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