Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or SCO, is a Eurasian regional organization founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It grew out of earlier border-security cooperation known as the Shanghai Five and has expanded into a broader forum for security, diplomacy, economic coordination, and regional connectivity.

The SCO is often associated with counterterrorism and internal security cooperation. Its Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, based in Tashkent, supports coordination among member states against terrorism, separatism, and extremism, often described in SCO language as the 'three evils'.

Although China and Russia are the most influential powers in the organization, the SCO also includes Central Asian states, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus. This gives it broad Eurasian reach but also creates limits because members have competing interests, border disputes, different alignments, and divergent views of regional order.

The SCO matters because it provides a major Eurasian forum outside Western-led institutions. It allows China, Russia, Central Asian states, and other members to coordinate on security language, regional diplomacy, counterterrorism, economic initiatives, infrastructure, energy, and opposition to perceived external interference.

Central Asia is especially important to the SCO because the organization began around border stability and security cooperation in the region. For Central Asian governments, the SCO offers a way to engage both China and Russia while also managing security risks, connectivity projects, migration, water, energy, and sovereignty concerns.

The SCO also illustrates the limits of broad anti-Western or multipolar platforms. India and Pakistan are rivals, India and China have border tensions, Iran faces sanctions pressure, and Central Asian states avoid overdependence on any one power. These internal differences constrain the SCO's ability to act as a unified bloc.