NEWS  

Three year after joining the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), India hosted the SCO heads of government meeting for the first time.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MEETING

• The focus of the 66-point joint communiqué at the end of the virtual conference was in developing a “Plan of Priority Practical Measures for 2021-2022 to overcome the socio-economic, financial and food consequences of COVID-19 in the region”.
• Members committed to strengthen multilateralism and the UN charter but no statement on terrorism was reflected in the final joint statement, which focused only on trade and economic issues.
• India was represented by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, who made strong observations on cross-border terrorism and called it as a “biggest challenge” in the SCO region. India also marked its differences with China over the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by not joining the endorsement of the BRI.

WHAT IS SCO?

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), or Shanghai Pact is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance. It’s creation was announced on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai, China.
• It’s member countries are- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan (India and Pakistan joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 at SCO’s Astana summit, Kazakhstan).
• The SCO is widely regarded as the “Alliance of the East”, due to its growing centrality in Asia-Pacific. It is the largest regional organization in the world in terms of geographical coverage and population, covering three-fifths of the Eurasian continent and nearly half of the human population.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR INDIA

• It is the rare forum where India-Pakistan troops take part in joint exercises under the Regional Anti-Terror Structure.
• It is one of the few regional structures India is a part of now, given the decline in its engagement with the SAARC, BBIN and the RCEP.
• It provides India a convenient channel for its outreach in trade and strategic ties to Central Asian countries.
• India’s presence in SCO would also ensure that China does not dictate terms in Eurasia.
• It provides the common platform with the two countries India has the most tense ties with: China and Pakistan (This channel was used by India and China for talks amidst the LAC stand-off ).
• The grouping now is being seen as an influential and responsible participant in the modern system of international relations.

CHALLENGES FOR INDIA

• Russia and China as a co-founder of the SCO are the dominant powers in the groupings, thus limiting India’s ability to assert itself.
• India finds itself alone on its position against China’s Belt and Road initiative.
• India-Pakistan rivalry makes it difficult to adhere with the objective of good–neighbour aspired by the SCO.
• India’s definition of terrorism is different from the definition of SCO under RATS. For SCO, terrorism coincides with regime destabilization, whereas for India it is related to state-sponsored cross border terrorism. Thus, lacks coherence of common approach against terrorism.
• India faces a challenge in harnessing and getting access to Eurasia because of prevailing geopolitical tensions in the region.

 WAY FORWARD

• India needs to strengthen mutual trust and promote good neighbour-relations among its member-states to counter Russia-China dominance.
• The anti-terror mechanism under SCO –RATS should be amended to identify the presence of major terrorists groups in the region.
• India should use the SCO platform actively to open bilateral talks with Pakistan and China in order to normalize the relations and maintain peace at its borders.

Above all, the SCO has been a grouping worth pursuing as it retains India‘s geopolitical balance to New Delhi’s otherwise much more robust relations with the western world.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/regional-priorities-on-the-sco-summit/article33224842.ece