Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

TheShanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) is aEurasianpolitical,economic,international securityanddefenceorganization established by China and Russia in 2001. It is the world's largestregional organizationin terms ofgeographic scopeandpopulation, covering approximately 24% of the area of world (65% of Eurasia)and 42% of the world population. As of 2024, its combined nominalGDPaccounts for around 23%, while itsGDPbased onPPPcomprises approximately 36% of the world's total.
The SCO is the successor to theShanghai Five, formed in 1996 between thePeople's Republic of China,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Russia, andTajikistan.In June 2001, the leaders of these nations andUzbekistanmet inShanghaito announce a new organization with deeper political and economic cooperation.  In June 2017, it expanded to eight states, withIndiaandPakistan.Iranjoined the group in July 2023, andBelarusin July 2024. Several countries are engaged as observers or dialogue partners.
The SCO is governed by the Heads of State Council (HSC), its supreme decision-making body, which meets once a year. The organization also contains theRegional Anti-Terrorist Structure(RATS).
The Shanghai Five group was created on 26 April 1996 when the heads of states of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions inShanghai.
On 24 April 1997 the same countries signed the Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions in a meeting inMoscow, Russia.On 20 May 1997 Russian PresidentBoris Yeltsinand Chinese PresidentJiang Zeminsigned a declaration on a "multipolar world".
Subsequent annual summits of the Shanghai Five group occurred inAlmaty, Kazakhstan in 1998, inBishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 1999, and inDushanbe, Tajikistan in 2000. At the Dushanbe summit, members agreed to "oppose intervention in other countries' internal affairs on the reason of 'humanitarianism' and 'protecting human rights;' and support the efforts of one another in safeguarding the five countries' national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and social stability."The Shanghai Five structure helped speed up the members' resolution of border disputes, agree on military deployments in border areas, and address security threats.
In 2001, the annual summit returned to Shanghai and the group was institutionalized.The five member nations first admittedUzbekistanin the Shanghai Five mechanism.On 15 June 2001, all six heads of state signed  theDeclaration 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.From 2001 to 2008, the SCO developed rapidly, establishing a number of permanent bodies andad hocinitiatives dealing with economic and security matters.
In June 2002, the heads of the SCO member states met inSaint Petersburg, Russia and signed theSCO Charterwhich expounded on the organisation's purposes, principles, structures and forms of operation. It entered into force on 19 September 2003.
In July 2005, at the summit inAstana, Kazakhstan, with representatives of India, Iran,Mongoliaand Pakistan attending an SCO summit for the first time,Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of the Kazakhstan, greeted the guests in words that had never been used before in any context: "The leaders of the states sitting at this negotiation table are representatives of half of humanity".
By 2007, the SCO had initiated over twenty large-scale projects related to transportation, energy and telecommunications and held regular meetings of security, military, defence, foreign affairs, economic, cultural, banking, and other officials from its member states.
In July 2015, inUfa, Russia, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members. In June 2016 inTashkent, both signed the memorandum of obligations, thereby starting the process of joining the SCO.In June 2017, at a summit in Kazakhstan, India and Pakistan officially joined SCO as full members.
In 2004, the SCO established relations with theUnited Nations(where it is an observer in theGeneral Assembly), theCommonwealth of Independent Statesin 2005, theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) in 2005, theCollective Security Treaty Organizationin 2007, theEconomic Cooperation Organizationin 2007, theUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crimein 2011, theConference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia(CICA) in 2014, and theUnited Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific(ESCAP) in 2015.in 2018, SCORegional Anti-Terrorist Structure(RATS) has established relations with theAfrican Union's African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT).
As of 2020, the Council of Heads of State was the top decision-making body in the SCO, meeting at the annual SCO summits in one of the member states' capital cities. Because of their government structure, the prime ministers of the parliamentary democracies of India and Pakistan attend the SCO Council of Heads of State summits, as their responsibilities are similar to the presidents of other SCO nations.
As of the 4 July 2024 meeting, the Council of Heads of State consists of:
The Council of Heads of Government is the second-highest council in the organisation. This council also holds annual summits, at which time members discuss issues of multilateral cooperation and approves the organisation's budget.As of the 1 November 2022 meeting, Council of Heads of Government consists of:
As of 2007, the Council of Foreign Ministers also held regular meetings, where they discussed the current international situation and interaction with other international organisations.As of 2021, the Council of National Coordinators coordinated the multilateral cooperation of member states within the framework of the SCO's charter.
The Secretariat of the SCO, headquartered inBeijing, China, is the primary executive body of the organisation. It serves to implement organisational decisions and decrees, drafts proposed documents (such as declarations and agendas), function as a document depository for the organisation, arranges specific activities within the SCO framework, and promotes and disseminates information about the SCO. The SCO Secretary-General is elected to a three-year term.Zhang Ming of China became the current Secretary-General on 1 January 2022.
The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) Executive Committee, headquartered inTashkent, Uzbekistan, is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against thethree evilsofterrorism,separatismandextremism. The Director of SCO RATS Executive Committee is elected to a three-year term. Ruslan Mirzaev of Uzbekistan became the current Director on 1 January 2022. Each member state also sends a permanent representative to RATS.
The official languages of the SCO areChineseandRussian.
The status of dialogue partner was created in 2008.
Multiple international organisations and one country are guest attendances to SCO summits.
Turkmenistanhas previously declared itself a permanentlyneutral country, which was recognized by a resolution adopted by theUnited Nations General Assemblyin 1995,thus ostensibly precluding its membership in the SCO.At the same time, Turkmenistan is a member of theEconomic Cooperation Organizationsince 1992 and an observer of theOrganization of Turkic Statessince 2021. Turkmenistan's head of state has been attending SCO summits since 2007 as a guest attendee.
In 2010, the SCO approved a procedure for admitting new members.In 2011,Turkeyapplied for dialogue partner status,which it obtained in 2013. At the same time, Turkey is aNATOmember and theEuropean Unioncandidate country. Turkish Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğanhas stated that he has discussed the possibility of abandoning Turkey's candidacy ofaccession to theEuropean Unionin return for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.This was reinforced again on 21 November 2016, after theEuropean Parliamentvoted unanimously to suspend accession negotiations with Turkey.Two days later, on 23 November 2016, Turkey was granted the chairmanship of SCO energy club for the 2017 period. That made Turkey the first country to chair a club in the organisation without full membership status. In 2022, at the 22nd summit of the SCO, the Turkish president said that Turkey would seek full SCO membership status.On 11 July 2024, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated in a statement to the U.S.Newsweekmagazine that they did not consider Turkey's membership in NATO as an alternative to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation andBRICS.
In 2011,Vietnamexpressed interest in obtaining observer status (but has not applied for it).
In 2012,Ukraineexpressed interest in obtaining observer status. However, since the deposition of PresidentViktor Yanukovychandincreased tensions with Russia, no application has been submitted and there are no current plans to incorporate Ukraine into the organization.
Azerbaijanexpects to receive observer status according to Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada. Azerbaijan will probably become a full member of the SCO in a little while, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said during his meeting with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on 3 July 2024 in Astana.
As of 2023, the SCO is primarily centered on security-related concerns, describing the main threats it confronts as beingterrorism,separatismandextremism. It has addressed regionalhuman traffickingandweapons traffickingand created terrorist blacklists.
At SCO summit, held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 16–17 June 2004, the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) was established. On 21 April 2006, the SCO announced plans to fight cross-border drug crimes under the counter-terrorism rubric.
In October 2007, the SCO signed an agreement with theCollective Security Treaty Organization(CSTO), in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, to broaden cooperation on issues such as security, crime, and drug trafficking.
As of 2010, the organisation was opposingcyberwarfare, saying that the dissemination of information "harmful to the spiritual, moral and cultural spheres of other states" should be considered a "security threat". An accord adopted in 2009 defined "information war", in part, as an effort by a state to undermine another's "political, economic, and social systems".The Diplomatreported in 2017 that SCO has foiled 600 terror plots and extradited 500 terrorists through RATS.The 36th meeting of the Council of the RATS decided to hold a joint anti-terror exercise, Pabbi-Antiterror-2021, in Pakistan in 2021.
At the summit inAstana,Kazakhstan, in July 2024, the SCO called for the creation of a fair, multipolar world order based on the key role of the United Nations, international law and the aspiration of sovereign states towards a mutually beneficial partnership.
As of 2009, the organisation's activities expanded to include increased military cooperation,intelligence sharing, andcounterterrorism.At the same time, leaders of SCO states repeatedly stated that the SCO was not a military alliance.
As of 2023, the SCO had not provided military support in any actual conflicts.However, as of 2017, military exercises have regularly been conducted among members to promote cooperation and coordination against terrorism and other external threats, and to maintain regional peace and stability.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. Since then China and Russia have teamed up for large-scale war games inPeace Mission 2005, Peace Mission 2007 and Peace Mission 2009, under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. More than 4,000 soldiers participated at the joint military exercises in Peace Mission 2007, which took place inChelyabinsk, Russia near theUral Mountains, as was agreed upon in April 2006 at a meeting of SCO Defence Ministers.In 2010, Russian Defence MinisterSergei Ivanovsaid that the exercises would be transparent and open to media and the public. Following the war games' successful completion, Russian officials began speaking of India joining such exercises in the future and the SCO taking on a military role. Peace Mission 2010, conducted 9–25 September at Kazakhstan's Matybulak training area, saw over 5,000 personnel from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan conduct joint planning and operational maneuvers.
The SCO has served as a platform for larger military announcements by members. During the 2007 war games in Russia, with leaders of SCO member states in attendance including Chinese PresidentHu Jintao, Russia's PresidentVladimir Putinused the occasion to take advantage of a captive audience. Russian strategic bombers, he said, would resume regular long-range patrols for the first time since theCold War. "Starting today, such tours of duty will be conducted regularly and on the strategic scale", Putin said. "Our pilots have been grounded for too long. They are happy to start a new life".
In June 2014, in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, the idea was brought up to merge the SCO with theCollective Security Treaty Organization. However, as of late 2022, in the wake ofRussian invasion of Ukrainein 2022, many SCO and even CSTO members had distanced themselves from military cooperation with Russia.
In September 2003, a Framework Agreement to enhance economic cooperation was signed by the SCO member states. At the same meeting thePremier of China,Wen Jiabao, proposed a long-term objective to establish afree trade areain 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 23 September 2004.
In October 2005, during the Moscow Summit of the SCO, the Secretary General of the Organisation said that the SCO would prioritise joint energy projects; including in the oil and gas sector, the exploration of newhydrocarbonreserves, and joint use of water resources. The creation of theSCO Interbank Consortiumwas also agreed upon in order to fund future joint projects. In February 2006, the first meeting of the SCO Interbank Association was held in Beijing.In November 2006, atThe SCO: Results and Perspectives, an international conference held in Almaty, the representative of theRussian Foreign Ministryannounced that Russia was developing plans for an SCO "Energy Club".in November 2007, Moscow reiterated the need for this "energy club" at an SCO summit. Other SCO members, however, did not commit themselves to the idea.During the 2008 summit it was stated that "Against the backdrop of a slowdown in the growth of world economy pursuing a responsible currency and financial policy, control over the capital flowing, ensuring food andenergy securityhave been gaining special significance".
At the 2007 SCO summit, Iranian Vice PresidentParviz Davoodiaddressed an initiative that had been garnering greater interest when he said, "The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a good venue for designing a new banking system which is independent from international banking systems".
President Putin included these comments:
In June 2009, at the Yekaterinburg Summit, China announced plans to provide a US$10 billion loan to other SCO member states to shore up the struggling economies of its members amid the global financial crisis.The summit was held together with the firstBRICsummit, and the China–Russia joint statement said that they want a bigger quota in theInternational Monetary Fund.
In 2014, theEurasian Economic Unionwas founded in which Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members.
During the 2019 Bishkek summit,Pakistani Prime MinisterImran Khansuggested taking steps to trade in local currencies instead of U.S. dollars and setting up financial institutions including an SCO bank.
In June 2022, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari suggested creating a single SCO currency to facilitate trade and financial transactions among SCO members.
During 19–22 October 2022, Iran hosted SCOCOEX, an international conference and exhibition on economic cooperation opportunities available to the SCO member states and partners.
As part of the SCO's economic agenda, it has established a relatively successful student exchange program called the SCO University.
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.
An SCO Arts Festival and Exhibition was held for the first time during the Astana Summit in 2005. Kazakhstan suggested an SCOfolk dancefestival to take place in 2008, in Astana.
The SCO+ forum format was initiated by theUnited Russiaparty in October 2020. This format includes inter-party interaction not only of the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (members, observers, candidates) but also of theCISandBRICScountries.
It was first used during the SCO+ international inter-party forum "Economy for People" on 22–23 October 2020.The forum was attended by speakers from 25 countries, including the chairman of the United Russia party,Dmitry Medvedev, ministers of the SCO countries, Serbian PresidentAleksandar Vučić, and ambassadors and diplomats of the CIS and BRICS countries. Russian PresidentVladimir Putinsent greetings to the forum participants.
According to the Charter of the SCO, summits of the Council of Heads of State shall be held annually at alternating venues. The locations of these summits follow the alphabetical order of the member state's name in Russian.The charter also dictates that the Council of Heads of Government (that is, the Prime Ministers) shall meet annually in a place decided upon by the council members. The Council of Foreign Ministers is supposed to hold a summit one month before the annual summit of Heads of State. Extraordinary meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers can be called by any two member states.
TheUnited Statesapplied for observer status in the SCO, but was rejected in 2005.
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 requested the U.S. to set a clear timetable for withdrawing its troops from SCO member states. Shortly afterwards, Uzbekistan requested the U.S. leave theK2 air base.
A report in 2007 noted that the SCO has made no direct comments against the U.S. or its military presence in the region; however, some indirect statements at the past summits have been viewed by Western media outlets as "thinly veiled swipes at Washington".
From 2001 to 2008, the Western reaction to the SCO was generally skepticism of the organization's goals.By the 2010s, however, the West increasingly began to view the SCO as a potential contributor to stability in the region, particularly with regards to Afghanistan.
In September 2023, theUnited Nationsapproved United Nations resolution A/77/L.107, titled "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization." The result of the vote was 80 in favour to 2 against with 47 abstentions.The United States and Israel were the only countries to vote against the resolution.
Although theEuropean Council on Foreign Relationsdubbed the SCO an "anti NATO alliance" in 2022,apparent inconsistencies among its member states have prevented it from becoming an effective geopolitical alliance.As of July 2023, India and Central Asian countries maintained friendly cooperation with both the West and Russia, India has had fierce conflicts with Pakistan and its ally China at the same time, which has been limiting the possibility of China and Russia forming the group into an anti-Western bloc.Academics Simon Curtis and Ian Klaus write that although SCO has sometimes been compared to NATO, unlike NATO, SCO does not create a collective security alliance.
At a 2005 summit in Kazakhstan the SCO issued a Declaration of Heads of Member States of the SCO which said: "The heads of the member states point out that, against the backdrop of a contradictory process ofglobalisation, multilateral cooperation, which is based on the principles of equal right and mutual respect, non-intervention in internal affairs of sovereign states, non-confrontational way of thinking and consecutive movement towards democratisation of international relations, contributes to overall peace and security, and call upon the international community, irrespective of its differences in ideology and social structure, to form a new concept of security based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and interaction."
In November 2005 Russian Foreign MinisterSergey Lavrovreiterated that the "Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is working to establish a rational and just world order" and that "The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation provides us with a unique opportunity to take part in the process of forming a fundamentally new model of geopolitical integration".
In 2007, Matthew Brummer tracked the implications of SCO expansion into thePersian Gulf.In 2008, one aim of SCO was to ensure thatliberal democracycould not gain ground in these countries, according to political scientistThomas Ambrosio.In 2016, political scientist Thomas Fingar wrote that China took the lead in establishing the Shanghai Five primarily to limit Russia's ability to reassert its influence in Central Asia.
During the2008 Russo-Georgian war, China opposed Russia's infringement on Georgia's sovereignty.Citing principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and global order, China used its influence in the SCO to prevent the organization from supporting Russia.
In 2008, Iranian writerHamid Golpirahad this to say on the topic: "According toZbigniew Brzezinski's theory, control of theEurasianlandmass is the key to global domination and control ofCentral Asiais the key to control of the Eurasian landmass....Russia and China have been paying attention to Brzezinski's theory, since they formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2001, ostensibly to curb extremism in the region and enhance border security, but most probably with the real objective of counterbalancing the activities of the United States and the rest of theNATOalliance inCentral Asia".
In 2008, thePeople's Dailywrote: "The Declaration points out that the SCO member countries have the ability and responsibility to safeguard the security of the Central Asian region, and calls on Western countries to leave Central Asia. That is the most noticeable signal given by the Summit to the world".
In January 2023, India as SCO chair, invited Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Minister and Chief justice to attend a meeting in Goa in May 2023.As of May 2023,India and Pakistancontinued to spar over terrorism,while Central Asian membersKyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have erupted in armed conflictover border disputes.The SCO was not a platform for resolving bilateral issues, and its members were also reluctant to mediate disputes multilaterally.Due to the widely divergent agendas among member states, Indian commentators even called it the "Shanghai Contradiction Organisation".
Members of the SCO remained neutral in theRusso-Ukrainian war, they also strengthened cooperation with the Russian Federation.Analysis in 2024 points out that the SCO has generally facilitated amicableChina-Russia relations.
A 2015European Parliamentary Research Servicepaper concludes, "The SCO's main achievement thus far is to have offered its members a cooperative forum to balance their conflicting interests and to ease bilateral tensions. It has built up joint capabilities and has agreed on common approaches in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism. However, major shortcomings, such as institutional weaknesses, a lack of common financial funds for the implementation of joint projects and conflicting national interests have prevented the SCO from achieving a higher level of regional cooperation in other areas."
In perspective with issues with internal conflict and lack of cohesion only exacerbate how ineffective the SCO would be for China globally.