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SCO Summit and India-China Relations
Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, marking his first visit to China since 2018.
What is the SCO?
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation formed in 2001 in Shanghai by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
- It expanded to include India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in 2023, and Belarus in 2024, now comprising ten member states.
- The SCO covers 24% of the world’s land area and 42% of its population, making it the world’s largest regional group by both geography and population.
- Its objectives include fostering mutual confidence, deepening political, economic, and security cooperation, and promoting stability in the Eurasian region.
- The SCO operates on the principles of mutual trust, respect for sovereignty, non-alignment, and open partnerships.
What is the significance of SCO?
- It is the only major regional platform bringing together key Central and South Asian nations, and pivotal powers like China, Russia, and India under a single framework.
- Its focus on countering terrorism, separatism, and extremism is operationalised through permanent institutions like the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), which coordinates anti-terror efforts among members.
- It is a strategic counterbalance to Western-dominated institutions, offering its members alternative modes of cooperation and multilateral engagement.
- Through shared economic initiatives, connectivity projects, and regional security cooperation, the SCO aims to promote peace, economic growth, and stability across Eurasia, particularly as it expands to include resource-rich and geographically pivotal countries like Iran and Belarus.
Why is the current SCO Summit essential?
- It marks a potential reset in India-China ties amidst global flux and recent bilateral thaw, offering scope for dialogue on key issues such as border management, economic partnerships, and resumption of direct people-to-people links like flights and pilgrimages.
- The summit occurs at a time when India is reassessing its strategic autonomy, balancing relations with Russia, the US, and China, especially as trade frictions with the US mount.
- Leaders from 20 countries, including member and observer states, make this the largest-ever SCO summit, underlining the group’s expanding geopolitical reach and importance in global governance.
Key strategic decisions, such as the next ten-year development plan and cooperation on counter-terrorism and economic integration, are on the agenda, shaping the region’s response to new global and regional security, economic, and diplomatic challenges.
