SCO — Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Origins and Evolution

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic, and security intergovernmental organisation tracing its origins to the Shanghai Five, formed on 26 April 1996 among China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan to resolve border demarcation and demilitarisation issues along the former Soviet-Chinese frontier.

On 15 June 2001, the SCO was formally established in Shanghai when Uzbekistan joined the Shanghai Five. The SCO Charter was signed on 7 June 2002 in St. Petersburg and entered into force on 19 September 2003.

Current Membership (10 Full Members, as of 2024)

Observer States: Mongolia; Afghanistan (participation inactive under Taliban governance)

Dialogue Partners (14): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, UAE. (UAE was added during India's 2023 SCO Presidency.)

India-Pakistan simultaneous admission (2017): China backed Pakistan's entry as a condition for India's membership, giving the organisation a South Asian dimension. The SCO now covers ~40% of the world's population and ~30% of global GDP.

SCO Charter: The "Shanghai Spirit"

The SCO's guiding philosophy — the "Shanghai Spirit" — emphasises:

• Mutual trust and mutual benefit
• Equality and consultation
• Respect for cultural diversity
• Pursuit of common development
• Non-alignment, non-confrontation, non-targeting of third parties

The Three Evils: The SCO's core security mandate targets what it calls the "three evils" — terrorism, separatism, and extremism. This is operationalised through the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent.

Three Pillars of SCO Cooperation

1. Security Cooperation

• RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure): Based in Tashkent; coordinates counter-terrorism, anti-separatism, and anti-extremism activities
• Peace Mission exercises: Joint military exercises among SCO member states (e.g., Peace Mission 2023 in Russia)
• Counter-narcotics cooperation — critical given Afghanistan's opium production affecting Central Asia
• Information security cooperation — cybersecurity norms and information space governance

2. Economic Cooperation

• Facilitation of trade and investment; SCO Business Council and SCO Interbank Consortium
• Energy cooperation — Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan are energy producers; China and India are major consumers
• INSTC (International North-South Transport Corridor): India-Russia-Iran-Central Asia connectivity route; SCO context provides framework
• Intra-SCO trade grew from $463 billion (2021) to ~$725 billion (2024) — a 56% increase
• India's share: ~$23.4 billion (3.2%) — limited by Pakistan transit barrier

3. Cultural and Humanitarian Cooperation

• SCO University (network of universities in member states)
• Youth exchanges and SCO Tourism Programme
• India initiated cooperation in traditional medicine, startup ecosystem, and shared Buddhist heritage during its 2023 Presidency

Key SCO Institutions

Secretary-General (as of 2024): Zhang Ming of China (three-year rotational appointment by Council of Heads of State).

India and the SCO — Three Phases

Phase 1 (2005–2017): Observer status India was an observer from the Tashkent Summit (2005); participated in deliberations without voting rights.

Phase 2 (2017–2023): Full membership India and Pakistan admitted simultaneously at the Astana Summit (June 2017). China backed Pakistan's simultaneous entry as a quid pro quo. India used SCO to engage Central Asian nations and the Russia-China axis.

Phase 3 (2023–present): Presidency and reset India held the SCO Presidency in 2023; at the Tianjin Summit (2025), PM Modi attended in person — the first visit to China since the Galwan confrontation (2020) — signalling a diplomatic reset.

India's Priorities and Constraints Within the SCO

India's Agenda

India's Core Constraints

1. Pakistan factor: India cannot use land routes through Pakistan to access Central Asia — severely limiting India's participation in SCO land connectivity projects
2. China-Pakistan alignment: On terrorism, CPEC, and Kashmir, China and Pakistan vote together — blocking India's counter-terrorism agenda in RATS
3. BRI linkage: Many SCO connectivity projects overlap with BRI; India objects to CPEC passing through PoK
4. Russia's Ukraine war: Complicated India's engagement at the 2023 virtual summit; India's non-alignment tested

Key SCO Summits

India's 2023 SCO Presidency — What Was Achieved

India held the SCO Chair in 2023 and hosted the summit in virtual format (4 July 2023) — avoiding a physically hosted Putin or Xi visit given Russia-Ukraine war and India-China border tensions.

Theme: "Towards a SECURE SCO" (Security, Economic development, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for sovereignty, Environmental protection)

New cooperation pillars India initiated:

• Startups and Innovation
• Traditional Medicine
• Digital Inclusion
• Youth Empowerment
• Shared Buddhist Heritage

Key outcome: Iran formally admitted as the 9th full member.

Astana Summit 2024 — Key Outcomes

• Belarus admitted as the 10th full member
• Astana Declaration adopted
• 25 strategic documents signed — energy cooperation, security, trade, information security
• New anti-terrorism programme for 2025–2027
• SCO Development Strategy until 2035 adopted

Tianjin Summit 2025 — India-China Reset

• PM Modi attended in person — first trip to China since Galwan (2020) — widely seen as confirmation of the bilateral reset following the disengagement agreement (October 2024)
• SCO Tianjin Declaration explicitly condemned the Pahalgam terror attack — a diplomatic win for India aligning SCO language with its zero-tolerance terrorism stance
• 20 significant documents signed; SCO Development Strategy 2026–2035 approved

SCO's Geopolitical Significance

The SCO is unusual among multilateral organisations because it:

1. Brings together India, China, Russia, Pakistan, and Central Asian states — potentially the most consequential geopolitical cluster in Eurasia
2. Provides India a platform to engage China and Russia without the US-dominated frameworks (NATO, QUAD)
3. Represents a non-Western multilateral architecture that is neither anti-Western nor irrelevant
4. Tests India's multi-alignment doctrine — being in QUAD and SCO simultaneously

Recent Developments (2024–2026)

SCO Astana Summit 2024 — India Represented by EAM Jaishankar

The 24th SCO Heads of State Summit was held in Astana, Kazakhstan on 3–4 July 2024. PM Modi did not attend — External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar represented India. The Astana Declaration was adopted, covering 25 strategic agreements on energy, security, trade, finance, and information security. India's priorities at the summit: counterterrorism through the RATS mechanism; connectivity (INSTC, Chabahar); and AI governance. EAM Jaishankar's bilateral with Chinese FM Wang Yi at the summit margins proved to be an important precursor to the October 2024 LAC disengagement agreement, with both sides agreeing to expedite resolution of remaining friction points in Eastern Ladakh.

UPSC angle: SCO Astana 2024 — 24th summit, Jaishankar represented India (not PM Modi), Astana Declaration, 25 agreements. The Jaishankar-Wang Yi bilateral on SCO margins is important context for the LAC breakthrough.

SCO Membership Dynamics — Pakistan's Obstructionism and India's Strategy

India and Pakistan are both SCO full members (since 2017), creating structural tensions — both countries use SCO meetings to advance their bilateral positions while the organisation officially operates on the "Shanghai Spirit" of non-interference. India's External Affairs Ministry noted that India refused to support SCO documents that contained references to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — which passes through Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), territory India claims as its own.

Following Operation Sindoor (May 2025), India-Pakistan tensions within the SCO framework have intensified. India has maintained its SCO membership as a strategic tool for Central Asia connectivity while refusing to let SCO be used to legitimise CPEC.

UPSC angle: India-Pakistan within SCO — both members (2017), India refuses CPEC references in SCO documents, bilateral tensions creating complications for SCO's multilateral functioning.

Belarus Joins SCO as Full Member — 2025

Belarus was admitted as the 10th full member of the SCO in 2025, following Iran's admission in July 2023 and the UAE-like partner country tracks for several others. SCO's expansion reinforces its positioning as an alternative multilateral framework for non-Western states, though this also increases internal contradictions (Belarus-EU tensions, Iran-US tensions) that complicate India's engagement within SCO.

UPSC angle: SCO full members as of 2025: China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran (2023), Belarus (2025) = 10 members. Observer states include Afghanistan, Belarus (prior to full membership), Mongolia. Dialogue partners include Türkiye, Cambodia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE.

India's SCO Chairmanship 2022–23 and Legacy

India chaired the SCO in 2022–23 and organised a virtual SCO Summit (online, July 2023) rather than an in-person summit — partly due to India's reluctance to host Pakistani leaders on Indian soil while PM Sharif would have been present. India used its chairmanship to push for: traditional medicine cooperation (Ayurveda/AYUSH), millet promotion, digital connectivity, and startup ecosystems — areas of Indian strength. India's SCO chairmanship legacy continues to shape India's SCO agenda in subsequent summits.

UPSC angle: India's SCO chairmanship (2022–23), virtual July 2023 summit, and India's thematic priorities (traditional medicine, millets, digital) are important for SCO-specific Mains answers.

25th SCO Summit — Tianjin, China (August–September 2025)

The 25th SCO Heads of State Council Summit — the largest in SCO history — was held in Tianjin, China on 31 August – 1 September 2025 under China's chairmanship (2024–2025). This was the fifth time China hosted the SCO summit.

Key outcomes:

• SCO Development Bank announced: President Xi Jinping announced the creation of an SCO Development Bank, with China committing 2 billion RMB (≈ USD 280 million) in grants plus 10 billion RMB (≈ USD 1.4 billion) in loans for SCO member states, to finance infrastructure and economic development across the 10-member organisation.
• Global Governance Initiative (GGI): Xi introduced the GGI — a new framework signalling China's intent to lead the development of an alternative international order, presented as a multilateral governance reform agenda.
• Chairmanship transfer: The 2025–2026 SCO chairmanship passed to the Kyrgyz Republic.

India's significant bilateral at Tianjin: PM Modi and President Xi Jinping held their first bilateral meeting on Chinese soil in seven years (their first meeting in India had been the October 2024 BRICS Kazan sideline bilateral). Both leaders acknowledged steady progress since the October 2024 LAC disengagement agreement. India and China agreed to resume direct passenger flights (suspended since COVID-19, though no timeline was set) and to expand bilateral trade and investment ties. The India-China bilateral at Tianjin represents a significant step in the post-Galwan diplomatic normalisation.

India-Pakistan tensions within SCO: Following Operation Sindoor (May 2025), India-Pakistan tensions within SCO intensified. India attended the Tianjin Summit but refused to endorse SCO documents containing references to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), maintaining its position that CPEC passes through Pakistan-occupied J&K (PoJK).

UPSC angle: Prelims — 25th SCO Summit: Tianjin, August 31 – September 1, 2025; China chair; SCO Development Bank announced (₹2 billion grants + ₹10 billion loans); Kyrgyz Republic takes over 2025–26 chairmanship; 10 full members. Mains — assess the significance of the Modi-Xi bilateral at the SCO Tianjin Summit; how does the SCO platform serve India's China policy interests while also creating structural tensions (Pakistan, CPEC, India-China border)?

PYQ Relevance

• (Prelims 2022): "Which of the following is the headquarters of the RATS of the SCO?" — Tashkent
• (Prelims 2019): "The 'Shanghai Spirit' represents which of the following principles?" — mutual trust, equality, non-targeting of third parties
• (GS2 Mains 2021): "How does India's membership in the SCO contribute to its foreign policy objectives? Discuss the challenges India faces within the SCO."
• (GS2 Mains 2023): "The SCO presents India with both opportunities and contradictions. Elaborate."

Exam Strategy

Non-negotiable Prelims facts:

• SCO founded: 15 June 2001 (Shanghai Five from 26 April 1996)
• Secretariat: Beijing; RATS: Tashkent
• India and Pakistan joined: June 2017 (Astana Summit)
• Iran joined: 2023 (India's Presidency); Belarus: July 2024 (Astana) → 10 total members
• Charter signed: 7 June 2002 in St. Petersburg; in force: 19 September 2003
• "Three Evils": terrorism, separatism, extremism
• Dialogue Partners: 14 (as of 2024)

Mains analytical angles:

• SCO as India's paradox: valuable for Central Asia access and great-power engagement, yet India's core concerns (CPEC, cross-border terrorism) are structurally blocked by China-Pakistan solidarity
• India-China within SCO: bilateral tensions co-exist with multilateral cooperation — 2025 Tianjin reset as a case study in managed competition
• SCO's "Shanghai Spirit" vs. India's democratic values: can India shape SCO's normative agenda?
• Connectivity within SCO: India's absence from BRI-aligned projects limits its gains; INSTC as the alternative
• Afghanistan factor: SCO's security mandate undermined by Taliban control; Pakistan-Afghanistan nexus complicates RATS

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