SCO at 25: Building a continent-wide security space

As the Shanghai Cooperation Organization marks its 25th anniversary, it is worth recalling its achievements in terms of building trust, enhancing security and promoting prosperity.

The challenge before the SCO as it enters its second quarter-century is clear — building on those achievements and creating a mutual security space in Eurasia which could become a major pillar of the emerging multipolar world order.

This is only natural given the SCO's own history. Its founding was preceded by five years of negotiations among China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on border issues and military security.

However, the process turned out to be so successful that, upon the completion of immediate tasks, what was initially the Shanghai Five became the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The new organization was given a new set of tasks. Its security mission expanded to include combating the "three evils" of separatism, radicalism and terrorism.

These destructive forces threatened both Russia and China, but particularly the new states in Central Asia.

As a means of bolstering socio-political stability in the region, the SCO facilitated economic cooperation among the five countries. Success brings recognition and attracts others.

Expectedly, the SCO's membership doubled. Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus joined the organization as full members.

Other countries, from Afghanistan to Mongolia to Turkiye, participated as partners or observers.

Some outside observers have compared the SCO to NATO, but this is wholly misplaced.

The SCO is not a military bloc; it is based on the sovereign equality of its members and abhors hegemony: it doesn't have a boss like the United States in NATO or in the G7 group; and it displays the diversity of the world's civilizations, unlike the uniform Western alliance.

These features make the SCO a perfect candidate for creating one of the pillars of the emerging multipolar world order: a security space spanning much of the world's biggest landmass, Eurasia.

A security space is best described as a community within which inter-state war has been abolished as an instrument of statecraft.

Countries are free to cooperate and compete, but they do not resort to violence when they disagree.

They do not seek to dominate one another either militarily or ideologically; they essentially mind their own business, and practice sovereign status equality — even though the world is not made up of material or spiritual equals. Key to a security space is the indivisibility of security: no state would seek to enhance its own security at the expense of others.

In theory, a Eurasian security space could extend to the entire Eurasian landmass, as proposed a couple of years ago by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It no longer makes sense to separate "European security" from the security of East, Central, South and West Asia; no one region, and no one country should be excluded.

Yet, the process naturally passes through stages. The SCO is a good example of that.

At its core lies the Russo-Chinese rapprochement, ushering in an era of strategic partnership and coordination.

Since then, thanks to the efforts of several generations of Chinese and Russian leaders, the governing elites and broader sections of both societies, a model relationship between two major countries has come into being.

This is still the backbone of the Eurasian security space.

The formation of the SCO added a vibrant Central Asian element to the picture.

SCO's expansion to include countries from South Asia has presented a number of challenges that are still relevant. In 2025, India and Pakistan even fought a brief war.

However, New Delhi and Islamabad's participation in SCO summits and related activities help manage tensions between the two nuclear powers. Of particular importance is the relationship between China and India.

At the very least, SCO events provide an opportunity for the leaders and senior officials of the two countries to meet and discuss problems, preventing conflicts.

With the more recent addition of Iran and Belarus, the SCO has reached two important regions: West Asia and Eastern Europe.

The two countries are essential — alongside East and Southeast Asia — for the security space embodied by the SCO to become continent-wide.

Whether the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be able to complete this ambitious new mission in its second quarter-century is a moot question.

However, by providing a forum to meet, setting principles for a security community — there's already talk of a Eurasian security charter — and actually practicing them, the SCO is a strong pillar of a security architecture already serving some three and a half billion people.

The author is president of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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