Security blanket

The SCO is a stabilizer for the region amid the ongoing global turbulence

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an organization aimed at safeguarding regional development and security, faces both important opportunities and major challenges amid the stalling global economy and disorder in global governance.

There are primarily three opportunities for the SCO's further development.

First, the international situation is undergoing turmoil amid major changes, with intensifying competition among major countries and frequent regional conflicts. In such a turbulent world, the Shanghai Spirit upheld by the SCO — namely, mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development — is in line with the trend of the times and has been widely recognized and praised by the international community. With the world in turmoil, the Shanghai Spirit is all the more relevant.

Second, the SCO member countries have an increased need for maintaining regional security. Security challenges in the SCO region are increasing, with traditional and non-traditional security challenges intertwined. The SCO member states have an increased need for security cooperation to jointly safeguard regional security and resolve differences and disputes through dialogue.

Third, there is greater momentum for common development. In recent years, the combined impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, regional conflicts and global economic downturn have posed grave challenges to all countries, and there is a strong desire for common development.

The SCO region covers more than 40 percent of the world's population and one-fourth of the world economy. The region has abundant resources and huge potential for development, with the economies of the member states being highly complementary.

At the same time, Belt and Road cooperation over the past more than 10 years has created new development opportunities for all SCO member countries. At present, across the SCO region, connectivity projects are booming, the construction of North-South and East-West transport corridors is accelerating, and the desire of all countries to bolster economic cooperation has grown.

But the SCO is faced with many challenges.

First, coordination within the SCO has become more difficult. The SCO currently has a three-tier cooperation structure consisting of 10 member states, two observer states and 14 dialogue partners, creating an SCO family of 26 countries. The more member states there are, the more difficult it is to coordinate within the SCO. In addition, the relations between some member states are fairly complicated. The principle of "making decisions based on consensus "must be upheld, which has to a certain extent undermined the efficiency of SCO cooperation. Thus, SCO institutional reforms have been put on the agenda.

Second, the risk of bloc confrontation has been on the rise. Particularly, in the wake of two major conflicts, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the relations between three SCO member states, namely Russia, Iran and Belarus, and the West are in a serious state of confrontation, with the three countries under a broad and unprecedented range of sanctions imposed by the West.

The US-led West has intensified efforts to suppress and contain China in recent years, and the long-term strategic competition between China and the US is bound to continue. However, unlike the military alliance during the Cold War, the SCO is an open and cooperative international organization that does not target any third party. The SCO does not seek confrontation with the West and it wants to avoid getting involved in bloc confrontation.

Third, multilateral economic cooperation under the SCO framework remains a daunting task. When the organization was created, the primary objective was to maintain security. Despite the member states' growing desire to bolster economic cooperation, multilateral economic cooperation is very difficult and economic cooperation outcomes over the years have been less than satisfactory.

Finally, the security challenges are increasingly complex. The economic difficulties faced by some countries, coupled with the fact that terrorism is increasingly difficult to prevent because of the internet, mean that the fight against terrorism has become more complicated. In addition to the Afghan issue, the security challenges facing the SCO region remain serious.

To promote the further development of the SCO, the role of the SCO should be more clearly defined.

Over the past 20 years, the SCO's role and functions have undergone several changes. First, the organization enhanced military mutual trust in the border areas. Later, the SCO member states strengthened security cooperation to combat the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, and gradually expanded cooperation to economic and cultural fields. To date, security, economy, culture and foreign exchanges have become the four major areas of SCO cooperation.

In light of the new international situation, the SCO should hold high the banner of the Shanghai Spirit, practice multilateralism, and build an SCO community with a shared future. It should seek to promote security, economic and cultural collaboration in the SCO region. It should implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China. The organization should strive to safeguard security and development of the surrounding areas of the Eurasian continent with Central Asia as the core, and safeguard world peace and stability at large.

The SCO should also promote the expansion of its membership process in an orderly manner. The SCO currently has 10 member countries. Mongolia has been hesitant to become a full member, but if Mongolia has a desire to become a full member, the SCO can consider accepting it. Some SCO dialogue partners are willing to be promoted to observer nations, in preparation for joining the SCO. As the number of SCO member states grows, coordination within the SCO has become more and more difficult. An expulsion mechanism should be considered for those member states that clearly violate the Shanghai Spirit and do not abide by the SCO charter.

Institutional reforms are needed to improve the SCO's efficiency. When serving as the rotating chair, China should prompt the SCO to speed up institutional reforms. The efficiency of the counterterrorism agencies needs to be improved as well, and SCO cooperation should continue to focus on security, which has been and should always be the top priority of SCO cooperation.

In the economic field, it is imperative to prioritize the formulation of rules. Project cooperation should be carried out on the premise that it is on an equal and voluntary basis. Small-scale multilateral cooperation should be promoted to advance projects that not all member states agree on or participate in. For example, other SCO member countries should also be encouraged to participate in the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, an important strategic project for the future.

Last, cultural exchanges should be promoted under the SCO framework. The other members should sign mutual visa-free agreements with China or extend a unilateral visa-free policy, and advance cooperation in tourism and education, especially in sports and culture. Since Russia, Belarus and Iran are all under sanctions and cannot participate in some important international events, the other SCO member states should extend their support to Russia and Belarus hosting international sporting events.

The author is director of the Institute of European and Asian Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.