SCO : just a neighborhood club

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As Pakistan continues with its efforts to get member ship in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, one wonders what significance does an organization like SCO have anyways. It has members such as Russia, China and some resource rich Central American states such as Kyrgistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.  Apart from the Uzbekistan, all these members had been part of the Shanghai Five formed in 1966 but then it was re-launched with Uzbekistan as an additional member in 2001. Other countries have had observer status including Pakistan.  Although its members hold 60% of the mass of Eurasia and a quarter of world’s population, SCO has really been nothing more than a neighborhood club.


It really exists as a response to NATO so that an alliance which can represent the East against the West could be there. Infact it has once already declined US request for membership.  But in today’s times, all that there could be to a Regional organization is economic cooperation. And SCO has been weak in this regard. China has in the past proposed it to be a FTA but that has suffered from lack of will on the part of member states. Its essentially been a neighborhood club at which members get together every year, make speeches and opt for the occasional joint military exercises.

 The only situation in which it could perhaps become of relevance is if in future there is a time when the West again forms an alliance and something similar to the Coldwar breaks out. But that is unlikely. Global / Regional conflicts in the 21st century will be on cultural/religious lines as predicted by Samuel Huntington and there is really very little common between the member states as far as these are concerned.  As far as what analysts refer to as The New Great Game (strategic  rivalry for supremacy in Central Asia in the 21st century), it will really have to be played by individual state actors alone with regional organizations contributing very little. Bilateral diplomacy will help more.

However, that does not mean that Pakistan should not try to get membership. For a pariah state like Pakistan, it is essential that it joins as many neighborhood clubs as it can so that it can get a chance to have dialogue with different states and perhaps expect some support in bigger & more significant forums like the UN which is critical for Pakistan. In the event that US & Israel move to attack Pakistan and secure its nuclear arsenal, they will do so with International endorsement.  Such an endorsement is easier against a state which is completely isolated.

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