Is the real goal of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to curb the growing influence of the USA in the Central Asian region? Is the SCO now becoming more of a political and security entity – a Russo-Chinese version of NATO? Or, is SCO concerned primarily with the economic interests of the member countries?
These questions popped up when the SCO Summit was held at Shanghai last month. The presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who attended as an observer, and the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, led to considerable speculation.
The SCO is an intergovernmental international organization founded in Shanghai, China, on June 15, 2001. It now comprises China, Russia and the four Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Four nations – Iran, Mongolia, India and Pakistan – have observer status.
The grouping seemed to benefit all its members, says the BBC.
“For China, one of the issues was the energy resources it was competing for to fuel its growing economy. Russia and Central Asia could provide them. China in return could provide a market for trade. And for Central Asian governments, Russia and China represented support without questions over issues such as human rights.
“But as the organisation’s scope has widened, it has come to be seen as a way for China and Russia to limit US influence in the strategically important Central Asian region.”
Yet another point of view : “Though the declaration on the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization contained a statement that it ‘is not an alliance directed against other states and regions and it adheres to the principle of openness’, most observers believe that one of the original purposes of the SCO was to serve as a counterbalance to the United States and in particular to avoid conflicts that would allow the United States to intervene in areas near both Russia and China.
“Many observers also believe that the organization was formed as a direct response to the threat of missile defense systems by the United States, after the United States reversed course in its nuclear policy and began promoting National Missile Defense.”
And, finally, thanks to Holly, I read another important article “Born of America’s Indifference, Eurasian Alliance Comes of Age” by M. K. Bhadrakumar in Forward. This is a thoughtful piece and deserves attention.
“The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is the only major international organization from which the United States is excluded.
The organization rebuffed an American attempt last year to gain observer status, while granting such status to Mongolia, Pakistan, India and, perhaps most irritatingly to Washington, Iran.
“To all appearances, perhaps, anti-Americanism in action — a Chinese-Russian alliance built to rival NATO and working for the elimination of American influence in Central Asia. Washington, in this view, must somehow render the Shanghai Cooperation Organization ineffectual, and the sooner the better.
“Curiously, there is hardly any effort to assess the alliance’s raison d’etre outside of an American prism — even though the ‘Shanghai spirit’ was in the air before the current chill in Washington’s relations with Moscow and Beijing, before the September 11 terrorist attacks, before the establishment of an American military presence in Central Asia, before the American intervention in Afghanistan and before the American-backed color revolutions in Moscow’s backyard.”
Perhaps time to ponder why the US administration’s foreign policy fails to find real friends abroad and increase its real sphere of influence.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.