DH Deciphers | What does the SCO summit mean for the post-Covid-19 world order?

The annual summit of the Heads of State Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was held on Tuesday, the first meeting of a big inter-governmental organisation after the US presidential election results were announced. The summit assumed significant in view of the changing geopolitics in Asia, the US-China-Russia relations and a global pandemic. But what exactly is the SCO and what does it do?

What is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an inter-governmental economic and security bloc floated by China and Russia in Shanghai (that’s why the name) in June 2001 as a counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) led by the United States. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — all former Soviet republics — are the other founding members of the SCO. India and Pakistan became observers in the SCO in 2005 and its full members in 2017. Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia and Belarus are observer states while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Nepal, Cambodia and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners.

In 2002, the SCO adopted its charter, which set the main goals of the organisation as strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states; promoting effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other areas; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region; and moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.

Why is this year’s SCO summit significant?

The SCO summit on Tuesday was the first after the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world. The summit assumed special significance amid global churning over the post-Covid-19 world order. The summit was originally planned to be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia. But in view of the pandemic, it was held virtually with Russian President Vladimir Putin chairing it. The leaders noted that the summit was being held on the 75th anniversary of the “victory of peace-loving states and peoples over Nazism, fascism and militarism and the creation of the United Nations Organisation in 1945”. It was also the first inter-governmental summit after the US presidential election that just denied a second term to Donald Trump, who had been targeting UN and other multilateral institutions over the past four years. The SCO member states reaffirmed their invariable support for strengthening the coordinating role of the UN and its Security Council as the key factor in maintaining mankind's peaceful, stable and progressive development.

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping participated in the summit, their first meeting since the stand-off between Indian and Chinese armies along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh started in late April and early May. Ahead of the summit, the SCO defence ministers and foreign ministers had met in Moscow in September. The conclaves had provided Indian and Chinese defence and foreign ministers to hold bilateral meetings and discuss ways to resolve the stand-off.

What did the SCO summit achieve?

The SCO leaders approved the Moscow Declaration — the main outcome document of the summit. Besides, the leaders also endorsed SCO statements on issues like the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of World War II, digital economy, Covid-19 pandemic, countering the spread of terrorism, including on the Internet and countering the drug threat. The report of the activities of the SCO secretariat and the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structures (RATS) was also adopted.

What is India’s approach to cooperation within the SCO?

Modi highlighted the imperative of a reformed multilateralism to meet the expectations of a world suffering from the social and financial after-effects of the pandemic. He also said that India, which would start its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council on January 1, 2021, would focus on the theme of ‘reformed multilateralism’ to bring about desirable changes in global governance.