THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION: OPPORTUNITIES FOR RUSSIA
Abstract
The striving of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for leadership is being increasingly manifested within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which plays an important role on the world political arena. After transformation of the Shanghai Six into a regional organization, China, with the aim of further increasing its political and economic influence in the region, was able to insist on the organization’s secretariat being located in Beijing.
In order to achieve its goals, the PRC is taking the following steps within the framework of the SCO:
—strengthening trade relations with the Central Asian states granting them multibillion loans;
—exerting active efforts to gain a stronger foothold in the oil and gas fields of Central Asia;
—skillfully using the SCO in the fight against separatism in the XUAR;
—actively preventing the spread of U.S. influence in Central Asia;
—implementing educational programs for the young people of the Central Asian countries.
By continuing to reinforce its position in the region and in the SCO, China is trying to acquire the status of the organization’s informal leader.1
However, despite China’s activity, Russia, which is pursuing its own national interests in the region engendered by the historical close ties that have developed with the Central Asian countries, also has every opportunity to significantly increase its influence in the SCO.
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References
See, for example: K. Syroezhkin, “China in Central Asia: From Trade to Strategic Partnership,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 3 (45), 2007, p. 49.
See: O vizite ministra oborony Rossii A.E. Serdiukova v Kirgiziiu, Press Release, 27 June, 2007, Russian Embas-sy in the Kyrgyz Republic, available at [http://www.kyrgyz.mid.ru/press_rel/07_03.html].
See: Press conference on the Results of the Sitting of the Council of Heads of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Portal of the President of Russia, 16 June, 2009, Ekaterinburg, available at [http://news.kremlin.ru/
ranscripts/4465].
See: Ibidem.
See: V. Putin takes part in a sitting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Website on the Russian Federation Government Chairman V.V. Putin, 14 October, 2009, available at [http://news.kremlin.ru/transcripts/4465].
See: T. Tserendorj, “Mongolia i regionalnye sistemy bezopasnosti,” in: Kontseptsii i podkhody k regionalnoi bez-opasnosti: opyt, probelmy i perspektivy vzaimodeystiia v Tsentralnoi Azii, Documents of the 4th Annual Almaty Conference (7 June, 2006), Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Research under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, 2006,pp. 212-228.
President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf submitted an application for Pakistan’s permanent membership to the SCO secretariat during his visit to China in February 2006.
See: K.L. Syroezhkin, Problemy sovremennogo Kitaia i bezopasnost v Tsentralnoi Azii: Monografiia, Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Research under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, 2006, p. 227.
See: E. Viazgina, Izmenenie otnosheniia Rossii i Kitaia k Tsentralnoi Azii i razvitie sotrudnichestva v ramkakh SHOS, Information-Analytical Center for the Study of the Sociopolitical Processes in the Post-Soviet Expanse at Moscow State University, 7 August, 2007, available at [www.ia-centr.ru].
R. Weitz, “Renewing Central Asian Partnerships,” NATO Review, Issue 3, Autumn 2006.
See: “Organizatsionnoe stanovlenie SHOS proizoshlo,” Azia-Strategia, 3 April, 2007, available at [http://www.asiastrategy.ru/?tm&mat_id=492&PHPSESSID=f5da72f00d421c981680781da6cacf32].
See: Parliamentary Component of Multilateral Cooperation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. From the records of 26 February, 2006, Official website of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly, available at [http://council.gov.ru/files/journalsf/item/20070725100417.pdf].
Study courses will initially be offered in five disciplines: regional studies, information technology, ecology, nano technology, and energy.
See: A.V. Lukin, “SHOS: itogi rossiiskogo predsedatelstva,” Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn, No. 9, 2009.
See: “Emergency Response Centers within the Framework of the SCO Will Open in Moscow and Astana,” Info-SCO Information Agency, 18 October, 2009, available at [http://infoshos.ru/ru/?idn=4996].
See: “The SCO Has Already Occupied Its Place in World Architectonics,” InfoSCO Information Agency, 23 April,2009, available at [http://www.infoshos.ru/ru/?idn=4490].
See: “Gensek NATO: SHOS interesnaia organizatsiia v plane obespecheniia bezopasnosti v regione,” InfoSCO Information Agency, 26 June, 2009, available at [http://www.infoshos.ru/ru/?idn=4449].
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