Walter Russell Mead is the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute, the Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal and the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College in New York. 

He is also a member of Aspen Institute Italy and board member of Aspenia. Before joining Hudson, Mr. Mead was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations as the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy. He has authored numerous books, including the widely-recognized Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004). Mr. Mead’s next book is entitled The Arc of A Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Future of the Jewish People.  

The 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit successfully concluded on September 16 in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, where the heads of states of the SCO’s eight permanent members – namely China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, India, and Pakistan – were gathered to discuss contemporary regional and global challenges. It was the first SCO summit to take place in person since the COVID-19 outbreak.

This year’s summit drew a lot of attention from both regional and Western media, mainly for two reasons. First, it was the first summit of the SCO heads of state since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began. The SCO, of which Russia is the leading member, thus attracted the media’s focus. Adding to the significance, on the sidelines of the summit Chinese President Xi Jinping had his first in-person meeting with Putin since the Russia-Ukraine war began.

Another important feature of this summit was the formal inclusion of Iran as a permanent member in the SCO. Iran signed a memorandum of obligations to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on September 15. As announced by Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on his Instagram page, “By signing the document for full membership of the SCO, now Iran has entered a new stage of various economic, commercial, transit and energy cooperation.”

The president of Uzbekistan formally announced Iran’s full membership in the SCO at the Samarkand summit. The SCO had accepted Iran’s application for membership last year and it will take a year to complete all the formalities. Most probably, Iran’s full membership is scheduled to take effect from April 2023. But from now on, Iran will now be permitted to attend members-only meetings of the organization. Previously, Iran only enjoyed observer status.

Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, addressed the second day of the summit on Friday, emphasizing the importance of maintaining close ties and interactions with all of the regional nations, including the SCO states. Iran’s foreign policy is focused on having an effective presence in regional and global orders, he added.

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Another decision was also made to begin the process to include Bahrain, the Maldives, the UAE, Kuwait, and Myanmar as new dialogue partners during the Samarkand summit. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and  Egypt signed MOUs and were granted the status of SCO dialogue partners, completing a process begun last year.

The only other time since the organization’s founding in 2001 that new members have been admitted was in 2015, when Pakistan and India’s applications were accepted at that year’s summit. At the 2016 summit, the two nations went on to sign memoranda of understanding, and at the 2017 summit, they were accepted as full members.

Acceptance of Iran as a full member of SCO will open up a new horizon of multilateralism. It will be beneficial not only for Iran but for the whole region. Many analysts argued that even if Iran may not be able to reap many immediate benefits from joining the SCO, it indicates Iran’s willingness to pursue stronger relations with China and Russia, the organization’s two most powerful members. The news of Iran’s SCO membership was highlighted by Iranian media as proof that Iran and China “are growing exceedingly close,” with the assertion that possible pressure from China and Russia was a factor in Iran’s admission to the organization.

China and Iran have established a wide-ranging and close relationship over the past few decades, with a focus on China’s energy requirements and Iran’s resources in addition to considerable non-energy economic links, arms sales, defense cooperation, and geostrategic balancing with the United States.

Besides, fighting its economic isolation from the West, Raisi and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have repeatedly emphasized that the nation must “look to the East” to find strategic allies who can assist it in reaching a new nuclear agreement, resolving the banking and trade issues brought on by U.S. sanctions against Iran, and enhancing its position in the Middle East and Asia.

Henceforth, joining the SCO is a success for Iran on both the economic as well as the political front. Since 2018, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of Tehran’s nuclear agreement with major powers including Russia and China, the Iranian economy has suffered critically. Therefore, inclusion in the SCO will open up new avenues for trade and cooperation with neighboring states that in return help Iran to solve its economic challenges.

Experts predict that adding Iran to the SCO structure will raise the substantial value of the SCO as a regional organization. The SCO now has all the necessary players to solve regional challenges like security, connectivity, and economic development.

Now that Saudi Arabia has also become a dialogue partner, the SCO can provide a platform for Iran and the Kingdom to work on their differences. On the other hand, it will be an opportunity for Pakistan and Iran as well to come to the table and talk about contentious issues that exist between the neighboring states.

The inclusion of Iran in the SCO gives the message of regional integrity and symbolizes the beginning of a new era of regionalism. Despite ongoing regional crises, the SCO summit in Samarkand reaffirmed its values and principles of shared destiny and win-win cooperation for the region.

However, given previous experiences, one should not be overly optimistic about any dramatic transformation in the region’s atmosphere. In 2017, when India and Pakistan joined the SCO, many trumpeted a new era of friendship between the two countries, but the SCO has not been able to smooth frictions between the rivals. The leaders of India and Pakistan failed to even meet informally at the most recent summit in Samarkand.

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BEIJING, Sept. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states on Friday made fruitful achievements by signing the Samarkand Declaration and a raft of documents and statements for not only regional countries but also the international community, showing the world the organization's and regional countries' joint pursuit of stability and development amid a complicated global geopolitical situation.

The prospering organization is becoming a stronger force in upholding international order by appealing to more countries to join in, and playing a more important role on the global economic stage, such as serving as a stabilizing force of international energy and food markets. The region is working closely in doubling down on efforts in fighting terrorism in this region. The SCO represents an ideal international relationship that countries have long desired, said experts.

President Xi on Friday attended the restricted session of the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO. While delivering a keynote speech, he pointed out that since its founding more than 20 years ago, the SCO has upheld the Shanghai Spirit and succeeded in exploring a new path for the development of international organizations.

Xi also outlined several priorities going forward for the SCO state members, including staying committed to the Shanghai Spirit and enhancing solidarity and cooperation, maintaining strategic independence and safeguarding regional stability, pursuing inclusiveness and shared benefits in promoting development cooperation, and advancing the SCO expansion process and strengthening SCO institutions.

Zhu Yongbiao, executive director of the Research Center for the Belt and Road and director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times on Friday that the fruitful contents of the Samarkand Declaration showed that the SCO is marching toward becoming a more international organization from a regional organization, while its membership expands along with the member states' issues of interest.

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The Shanghai Spirit upheld by the SCO members could also be applied in dealing with international issues, Zhu said.

On Friday, SCO member states signed the Samarkand Declaration and issued statements on safeguarding global food security and energy security, addressing climate change, and maintaining a secure, stable and diversified supply chain.

Besides traditional regional security and development cooperation, the Samarkand Declaration also contained various international issues such as concern over unilateral protectionist actions that undermine the multilateral trading system. It also demonstrated that the SCO has become more mature and contributed more to the international governance system and improvement of the global order, Zhu said.

Calling for joint efforts to counter terrorism is an important part of the declaration. It noted that based on each country's laws and coordination, state members are working to form common principles and stances on creating a unified list of banning terrorist, separatist and extremist activities.

The upgrading of various anti-terrorist institutions to a comprehensive security threat center as well as joint statements on issues including food security and climate change are a natural expansion after 20 years of the organization's development, and is also a necessary move amid new security challenges facing the region, Zhu said.

In addition to stressing joint efforts on countering terrorism, the Samarkand Declaration has also expressed member states' concerns over the security of outer space and other controversial fields.

"Member states stand for keeping outer space free from weapons of any kind and state the major importance of the unfailing implementation of the existing legal framework envisaging only the peaceful use of outer space," the document says.

The SCO's proposals on international issues have greatly boosted the UN's significance and inclusiveness, as many international mechanisms represent the will of developed countries but do not supply full consideration to developing countries, according to Zhu.

Growing bigger with a better future

One of the most important achievements reached in Samarkand is the expansion of member states. The SCO was founded with six members in 2001 and has since expanded to eight, in addition to having four observer states and six dialogue partners. On Friday, a memorandum of obligations on Iran's SCO membership was signed, and the SCO members began a process to admit Belarus to the SCO.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt will formally become SCO dialogue partners with the signing of relevant documents, and negotiations will be held on granting Bahrain, the Maldives and other states' the status of dialogue partner.

Chinese analysts said that more countries are expected to apply to become full members of the SCO due to its growing attraction.

The attraction of SCO is that it helps member states safeguard their independence and sovereignty, provides them with broader space for cooperation, and enhances their international voice and influence. It also helps members effectively cope with changes in the international and regional situations, hedge external pressure and respond to security threats, and resolve differences through dialogue and consultation, Zhao Huirong, an Eastern European studies expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.

Zhao said China and Russia, as founding members and permanent members of the UN Security Council, have an important leading role in the development of the SCO, and the two countries have common interests in promoting peace and development in the region, and putting forward many initiatives. The two countries have established a high level of strategic partnership of coordination, which to a large extent guarantees the stable development of the SCO, Zhao said.

SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming told media recently that many other countries have also expressed the hope that they can become members, observer states or dialogue partners.

The Shanghai Spirit, which features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations, and pursuit of common development, is increasingly important in the current international environment amid hegemony and small cliques, and more countries that prefer multilateralism and peaceful development are attracted by the SCO as the organization can maintain unity and solve stability and development issues in the region, Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of the Renmin University of China, said that the SCO has evolved from an organization mainly focusing on border safety cooperation to incorporating nations from a wider geographical context.

"It will become an organization that represents the emerging nations, which will play a pivotal role in safeguarding world stability and peace," Zhou said.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-times-sco-expands-membership-and-intl-appeal-as-president-xi-outlines-priorities-of-solidarity-shared-benefits-301626719.html

SOURCE Global Times

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation called for a "balance" between reducing carbon emissions and allowing poorer states to catch up with economically developed countries in a joint statement on climate change adopted on Friday.

In the statement, the heads of some of the world's biggest emitters - including China, India and Russia - said they unanimously recognised the negative consequences of climate change and the need for urgent action, but called for increased investment in oil and gas production and exploration.

The group also slammed "coercive measures" to force countries into reducing emissions at a set pace, saying countries "have the right to independently set national goals in the field of climate change prevention".

"Unilateral coercive measures violate multilateral principles, seriously undermine multilateral cooperation and collective and national efforts to address climate change, and weaken the ability of countries to address climate change," the leaders of the SCO member states said in their joint statement.

The SCO - a Beijing-led group of states across Eurasia - was meeting in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand in what was Chinese President Xi Jinping's first trip abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SCO members account for around half the global population. On Thursday, Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to become the ninth permanent SCO member.

In the statement, SCO leaders said they were calling for a "balanced approach between emissions reduction and development, supporting a fair transition" to a greener economy.

Russia, India and China have at times all been accused in the West of not doing enough to address climate change, but argue that poorer and developing countries should be given more leeway to prioritise economic growth over climate issues.

China and Russia are aiming to reach "net zero" emissions by 2060, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed that his country was setting 2070 as its target.

Environmental scientists say the world as a whole needs to start reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere no later than 2050 to limit the average increase in the global surface temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels.

The SCO pushed back against calls for a wholesale move away from polluting fossil fuels in favour of cleaner renewable energy.

"It is important ... to use the common and complementary advantages of fossil fuels and clean energy sources and, in this regard, to increase investment in the exploration and production of fossil fuels," SCO members said.

In a swipe at the West, the SCO leaders also criticised countries that tried to "use the climate agenda to introduce measures to restrict trade and investment cooperation".

The European Union is at the forefront of Western efforts to introduce a carbon border tax.

It is proposing to tax goods imported to the bloc in proportion to the amount of CO2 emitted during their production, in order to protect EU producers from unfair competition from manufacturers not subject to the same environmental regulations.

The tariffs could hit Russia's vital commodity exports as well as a range of manufactured goods from SCO members China, India and Pakistan.

Reporting by Reuters, Jake Cordell; Editing by Kevin Liffey

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed his NATO-member country’s intention to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), suggesting Ankara is seeking alternatives to its problematic ties with the West.

Erdogan, who made the remarks after attending last week’s SCO summit in Uzbekistan, was also quoted as saying by the Turkish media that the SCO’s 2023 meeting in India will be a venue to discuss this prospect further.

China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India and Uzbekistan are the full members of the of the political, economic, and security organisation.

Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia are SCO observer countries, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey are the bloc’s dialogue partners.

“Our ties with these countries will be moved to a much different position,” Erdogan told reporters on Saturday.

When asked by reporters if he meant Turkey would seek to become a member of the organisation, the president said: “Of course, that’s the target.”

The SCO is not seen as an alternative to NATO, a military alliance with collective defence responsibilities under Article 5 of its founding treaty, which considers an armed attack against one or more members to be considered “an attack against all”.

Mensur Akgun, a professor of international relations, told Al Jazeera that the SCO is an hybrid bloc that seeks to prevent a vacuum in Central and South Asia through cooperation.

“It aims to increase dialogue and cooperation, solve problems among its members when needed and stand in solidarity with one another against interventions in the region by outside powers,” he said, adding that the SCO is closer to the model of the European Union than to NATO.

“An organisation that has arch-rivals India and Pakistan under its umbrella would not be able to have automatic military interdependence like NATO has,” Akgun said.

Akgun also said that growing political and economic ties between Turkey and Russia in recent years contributed to Erdogan’s remarks on SCO membership, especially considering Turkey’s often tense relations with Western powers.

Turkey bought Russia’s S-400 defence systems, which prompted US sanctions in addition to Turkey’s removal from a US-led programme developing F-35 fighter jets. Russia is also building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant and the two countries signed an economic cooperation deal in August.

Even though Turkey and Russia backed opposing sides in Syria’s war, the two countries have largely coordinated closely during the conflict.

The Turkish government has also taken a balanced stance over Moscow’s February invasion of Ukraine. It has provided Ukraine with arms, in particular with drones, but it has not imposed sanctions on Russia and criticised what it calls Western policies “based on provocations” towards Moscow.

Ankara has tried to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict and helped broker an agreement in July for Ukrainian grain ships to sail to outside markets.

Galip Dalay, a nonresident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, said that Erdogan’s remarks on SCO membership stem from Ankara’s tensions with the West.

“Whenever there is discontent with the West – in particular, with the US [over] the perception that Turkey is treated unfairly – the idea of alternatives come up,” he told Al Jazeera.

“And because of that Ankara currently believes Turkey’s interests are better served by a balancing act between different centres of powers – meaning China, Russia and the West,” Dalay said.

Ankara has also been at odds with the US and certain EU member states over their support for Syrian Kurdish fighters who allied with the West in the fight against ISIL (ISIS) in the war-torn country.

Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main part of the anti-ISIL alliance, to be an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting against the Turkish state for decades.

Erdogan threatened to block Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids over what he said was their support for these groups, but lifted his opposition after a meeting with US President Joe Biden in June.

Following the move, Biden expressed support for sales of F-16 jets to Turkey – warplanes currently in use and inferior to the F-35s in development. However, he needs the approval of the US Congress for the move.

In July, the US House of Representatives approved an amendment creating a new hurdle for Biden’s plan to sell F-16s to Turkey, imposing strict conditions to any sales.

Erdogan said last week that his government might consider other options if the US is unable to fulfil its promise to provide the jets.

Recently, escalating tensions in the Mediterranean Sea between NATO members Turkey and Greece have also prompted the EU and the US to condemn Turkey.

Ankara and Athens are at odds over an array of issues such as overflights, the status of islands between the two countries, maritime boundaries and hydrocarbon resources.

However, Akgun believes that Turkey is unlikely to gain SCO membership for several reasons, considering the bloc’s structure and purposes.

“Turkey’s membership to the SCO does not seem possible as a NATO member and an EU candidate, but also because it is currently geographically and politically irrelevant to the SCO’s purposes of existence,” Akgun said.

In its capacity as the present chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (SCO-RATS), India hosted the RATS Council meeting in New Delhi on Friday, wherein member stated vowed to implement joint measures to counter threats posed by international terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan.

 "Joint measures of the competent authorities of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to counter the challenges and threats posed by international terrorist organisations from the territory of Afghanistan were approved," India's Deputy National Security Advisor, Dattatray Padsalgikar, said at a media briefing. 

Joint Military Exercise in China

Padsalgikar added that the member nations also decided to organise a military exercise called "Solidarity- 2023" next year.It is learnt that the exercise will take place in China.

"The Council of the SCO-RATS decided to organise and conduct a joint border operation with the forces and means of the border services of the competent authorities of the SCO member states 'Solidarity-2023'," the deputy NSA said.

Furthermore, the meeting also considered the course of implementation of earlier decisions of SCO-RATS. "The work plans of the SCO-RATS Executive Committee, as well as the activities of the group of technical experts of the competent authorities of the SCO member states, expert groups in the areas of border cooperation and countering the use of the Internet for terrorist, separatist and extremist purposes were approved," Padsalgikar said.

Full attendance

The meeting was attended by senior officials of all the member nations including China and Pakistan.

India handed over chairmanship of the SCO-RATS to Kazakhstan to conclude the meeting. 

(With inputs from PTI)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) plans to prepare a single list of terrorist, separatist and extremist groups whose activities are banned on the territories of the member states, with an aim to counter the threat posed by them to the region.
In a joint declaration issued at the end of the annual Summit of the eight-member bloc in the historic Uzbek city of Samarkand, the leaders of the SCO member states, strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

"In accordance with their national laws and on the basis of consensus, the member states will strive to develop common principles and approaches to the formation of a single list of terrorist, separatist and extremist organisations whose activities are prohibited on the territories of the SCO member states," said the Samarkand declaration signed by the leaders of the member states on Friday.

Briefing reporters later, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said that each of the SCO member states was very very clear in recognising the threat that this challenge poses to the region and beyond.

To counter the threat of chemical and biological terrorism, the SCO members called for the compliance with the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons. "They stress the importance of the early destruction of all declared stockpiles of chemical weapons," the declaration said.

On Afghanistan, the member states called for creating an inclusive government in the war-torn country, which is now ruled by the Taliban.

"The member states consider it extremely important to establish an inclusive government in Afghanistan with the participation of representatives of all ethnic, religious and political groups of Afghan society," the declaration said.

The grouping also advocated the formation of Afghanistan as an independent, neutral, united, democratic and peaceful state, free from terrorism, war and drugs.

On Iran, the declaration said that the SCO member states consider it important to sustainably implement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and called on all participants to strictly fulfill their obligations for its comprehensive and effective implementation.

The SCO also called for creating a transparent international energy market and reducing the existing trade barriers.

"We call on the countries of the world to jointly create an open, transparent and efficient international energy market, reduce trade barriers, avoid excessive volatility in world energy commodity prices, maintain a healthy, stable and sustainable international energy market," the declaration said.

The SCO member states called for more effective World Trade Organisation (WTO) as a key forum for discussing the international trade agenda and adopting the rules of the multilateral trading system.

The SCO, seen as a counterweight to NATO, is an eight-member economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

India has shown keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)