Expansion to add fresh vitality to SCO

At the 17th Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, President Xi Jinping witnessed the official inclusion of India and Pakistan into the regional bloc, as well as the adoption of a convention on anti-extremism. As China succeeds Kazakhstan as the SCO chair for a year, observers are wondering what the expansion of the bloc will mean for the "Shanghai Spirit".

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the SCO Charter and the 10th anniversary of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States. That China has developed a comprehensive strategic partnership with many Central Asian countries is proof of the vitality of the bloc, which has just entered its 16th year.

The SCO has accorded priority to unity in the first decade of its existence, but now it also needs fresh vitality to intensify multilateral operations and more efficiently implement its plans. In this sense, the accession procedures for India and Pakistan, which started in 2015 at the Ufa summit in Russia, are not just about institutional expansion or revision but also improvement.