Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Regional Power or International Alternative?

Nuha Yousef | 2 years ago

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The 22nd meeting of leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) started on Friday in the historic city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The summit is attended by the leaders of the member states, namely Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kazakh Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz Sadyr Japarov, Tajik Emomali Rahmon, Prime Ministers of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif and India Narendra Modi, as well as the President of the Uzbek host country Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Also participating are the leaders of the observer countries, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Mongolian Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, and Iranian Ebrahim Raisi.

Also participating are the invited heads of state, namely Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkmenistan Serdar Berdymukhamedov, and Azerbaijani Ilham Aliyev.

 

Strong Alliance

The growing interest at the summit, both from member states and those wishing to join, reflects the desire of most countries to be independent of the dictates of the West and to form a multipolar world, a move that has already become an irreversible process for Russia and China.

The rapid expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is another confirmation of this.

In the event of the expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan in mid-2001, the organization would far surpass the Group of Seven major industrialized nations, not only in terms of population but also in terms of gross domestic product.

In the 18 years of its existence, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has become the largest regional organization in the world, already covering three-fifths of the Eurasia region and nearly half of the world's population.

In fact, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a political and economic association that serves as an alternative center to the Union of Third World Nations, in contrast to the Western big seven club (G7), which includes Britain, Germany, and Italy, as well as Canada, France, Japan, and the United States.

According to key economic indicators, the SCO countries have already surpassed the G7 participants in terms of GDP, which is over $44 trillion.

After the expansion of the Shanghai Union, this figure, according to experts, could reach 53 trillion, compared to 42 trillion in terms of GDP of the Group of Seven countries currently.

At a time when Western economic sanctions on some member states are on the rise, calls within the Shanghai Organization for the unification of the currency among its countries are increasing, in pursuit of economic integration and countering the dominance of the dollar in world markets, while the People's Bank of China has begun to build reserves in the yuan currency with five other countries in cooperation with the Bank for International Settlements, as part of China's efforts to an effective alternative to replace the dollar-dominated International Monetary Fund, according to a report published by the U.S. website Business Insider.

 

New Members

After the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2001, India and Pakistan have already joined the organization, and Iran has recently been declared admitted.

Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia act as observers, and the organization's partners are Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Nine other countries recently announced their desire to join the Shanghai Union: the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Nepal, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The decision to expand the organization is likely to be made at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit currently being held in the Uzbek capital Samarkand, which will run from September 15 to 16.

Consensus is required to accept new members, so experts believe that not everyone will join the SCO quickly.

 

New World Order

During the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping renewed his rejection of a unipolar world, while Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the "new centers of influence," stressing that relations between the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are "devoid of any selfishness."

For his part, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took the opportunity to meet with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the summit to remind him of the defiance of the U.S. sanctions imposed on his country.

Raisi said on Friday in a speech that the repeal of U.S. sanctions required new solutions and that the Shanghai Organization could challenge Washington's unilateralism.

The Iranian president also called for the expansion of free trade among SCO member states, along with financial and banking cooperation.

Shanghai Cooperation is not only an organization concerned with the economy but also with politics: by refusing to go along with the United States by imposing sanctions on Russia, the organization's members have once again demonstrated their non-subordination to Washington and the European Union.

For its part, the United States sees the organization as a strong competitor seeking to create a rival global pole. In a related context, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attacked the summit, saying: "China as its strongest member, along with Russia, seeks to use the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to form a coalition of (authoritarian regimes) that oppose the forces of democracy."

Besides its geographical and demographic size, it is militarily powerful, with four nuclear powers, the second, third, and fourth most powerful armies worldwide, respectively, China, Russia, and India.

Economically, the organization includes three of the world's largest industrial powers and the second most powerful economy in the world, the Chinese economy, whose GDP in 2021 amounted to nearly $ 20 trillion.

 

'Back Alley'

Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February, Western countries have imposed extensive and unprecedented sanctions on Russia, forcing it to strengthen its ties with China, which has been more cautious in its stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Relations between China and Western countries, led by the United States, have not improved much under the current U.S. President, Joe Biden, with his administration seeing China as the number one strategic threat to the United States.

Hence, broad coordination and cooperation between China and Russia are inevitable for the two countries, as they need each other in these international circumstances.

A few days ago, a senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying during his meeting with the Russian ambassador to China that his country was ready to work with Russia to steer the world order "in a more just and rational direction," underscoring the depth of relations between the two countries.

Chinese official Yang Jiechi added that under the guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin, "the relationship between the two countries has always been on track, and both sides strongly support each other on issues related to their core interests."

"The Chinese side is willing to work with the Russian side for the continuous implementation of high-level strategic cooperation between the two countries, safeguarding common interests, and promoting the development of the international system in a more just and rational direction," Yang said, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement.

Chinese exports of cars, televisions, and smartphones have helped Russia fill the vacuum left by Western companies in the Russian market after they halted their business there following the invasion of Ukraine.

In the second quarter of this year, 81 percent of imports of new Russian cars were from China, and Xiaomi's phones were the best-selling in Russia.

 

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