Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian economic, political and military organisation. It began as the Shanghai Five in 1996 and was founded by the leaders of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. In 2001, the Shanghai five was rechristened as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation due to the accession of Uzbekistan. The SCO entered into force on 19 September 2003. India and Pakistan became members of SCO in 2017. Iran also started full accession as a member and joined in September 2021.

The aims and objectives of SCO are to enhance and maintain peace, security, and stability in the Eurasian region. The SCO is seen as a counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Due to its geographical significance, the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is strategic in limiting American influence in Central Asia. 

Principles of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation:

The SCO follows principles based on the Shanghai spirit. Based on the same, its policies are as follows:

  • The internal policy is based on mutual trust, benefit, consultations, and addresses equality, cultural respect, diversity, and a common goal for the development of all the nations in a way that is beneficial to all the Eurasian countries.
  • The external policy follows the principles of non-confirmation and non-alignment and does not target or isolate any third country. It also promotes openness.

Objectives of the SCO:

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation primarily focuses on the following aims and objectives:

  1. To strengthen member states relations by deepening political, security, and economic cooperation. 
  2. To strive for cooperation between the members to confront threats emanating from terrorism, extremism, and separatism. 
  3. SCO aims to move towards developing a democratic and equitable international political order.  
  4. To ensure joint efforts in maintaining peace, security, and stability in the region. 
  5. To deepen engagements in trade/commerce, transport, tourism, environment, cultural linkages, education, research, and technology. 

Importance of these objectives for India:

  1. Security:
  • India can use the security-based objectives of SCO, where it strives to confront and contain threats that originate from terrorism, extremism, and separatism to counter terrorist and extremist forces that threaten India’s peace.
  • RATS, which is the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, the anti-terrorism wing of SCO, can be a great pillar for India to improve counter-terrorism by sharing intelligence, law enforcement, and technologies. 
  • India can also tackle drug trafficking and arms proliferation through the SCO.
  1. Energy
  • Central Asia has a rich source of energy power, and India can mutually benefit from this by accessing the natural resources of other Asian countries. 
  • India is a growing nation that requires energy and is inherently deficient in energy resources. 
  • Through SCO, it can also push for stalled projects like the construction of stalled pipelines like the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) pipeline and the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline.
  1. Trade
  • The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation provides direct access to Central Asia for India and can contribute tremendously to flourishing trade between India and Central Asian countries. 
  • It is another route to Central Asia for trade.
  • This also allows for the proliferation of economic ties and provides India with a market of countries that can benefit from services that India offers well – like banking, telecommunications, finance, pharmaceutical industries, and IT. 
  1. Geopolitical 
  • The SCO allows India with an essential and easy platform to connect with its extended neighbourhood and pursue the “Connect Central Asian Policy”.
  • The SCO also allows India to monitor and check on China’s growing influence on other Asian countries while enabling it to make a bigger space for itself in its neighbour’s areas. 
  • About SCO, it is a healthy platform for India to deepen its ties with Russia and its old friend and also engage with China and Pakistan internationally. 

Achievements of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation:

  • About SCO, its importance lies in its operations across Central Asia. Initially, that is in circa 2003, and further, it focused on reciprocating efforts to curb separatism, terrorism, and extremism within the regions of Central Asia. 
  • After a few more years, around 2006, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation widened its plan to include battling the use of drug trafficking as a source of global finance internationally. 
  • When Afghanistan was dealing with instability in 2008, SCO actively participated in regaining stability in the region. 
  • Simultaneously, the SCO also dabbled into economic activities. 
  • In 2003, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s member states signed a 20-year Schedule of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation to establish a free trade zone within the Central Asian region, specifically within the territory of the member countries. 

Conclusion:

The SCO holds great importance as a strategic power that brings together four nuclear powers of the world – Russia, China, India, and Pakistan. For an organisation of such importance, principles and objectives that focus on the greater good must be followed. The SCO has upheld its ideals and found tremendous success in the last 20 years because of its transparency, mutual respect, and a common goal for development.