Shanghai Cooperation Organization

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上海合作组织
Шанхайская организация сотрудничества
Image:SCO logo.jpg
Crest of the SCO
Image:SCO Map.png
Template:Legend Template:Legend
Membership 6 member states
4 observer states
Headquarters
Secretariat
RATS
- Beijing
- Tashkent
Working languages Chinese, Russian
Secretary General Zhang Deguang
Formation 14 June 2001
Official website http://www.sectsco.org/

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization which was founded on June 14, 2001 by leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, the People's Republic of China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.

Contents

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Official names

The official working languages of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are Chinese and Russian. Here are the official names of the organization in the two languages, abbreviations in parentheses.

Chinese:

Russian:

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History

The Shanghai Five grouping was originally created in 1996 with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions in Shanghai by the heads of states of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. In 1997 the same countries signed the Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions in a meeting in Moscow.

Subsequent annual summits of the Shanghai Five group occurred in Almaty (Kazakhstan) in 1998, in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) in 1999, and in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) in 2000.

In 2001, the annual summit returned to Shanghai, China. There the five member nations first admitted Uzbekistan in the Shanghai Five mechanism (thus transforming it into the Shanghai Six). Then all six heads of state signed on 15 June, 2001, the Declaration of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, praising the role played thus far by the Shanghai Five mechanism and aiming to transform it to a higher level of cooperation.

In June 2002, the heads of the SCO member states met in St. Petersburg, Russia. There they signed the SCO Charter which expounded on the organization's purposes, principles, structures and form of operation, and established it officially from the point of view of international law.

In July 2005, after the war in Afghanistan and Iraq saw a semi-permanent troop presence of U.S. forces in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the SCO meeting at its summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, urged them to set a timetable for withdrawing their troops from member states. Since then, Uzbekistan has asked the U.S. to leave the K-2 air base. The Astana summit also saw the induction of India, Pakistan and Iran as observers. Following the successful completion of Sino-Russian military exercises, Russian officials have begun speaking of the SCO taking on a military role and of India also joining these exercises in the future. In 2006, Iran is expected to be inducted as a full member of the SCO and will likely be included in joint military and economic activities, thus nearly eradicating its 20-year isolation.

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Role and Organization

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. The SCO is centered around its member nations' Central Asian concerns. Early goals of this organization were mostly security-related issues. This included solving border conflicts, avoiding military conflicts, counter-terrorism, and countering militant Islam.

Russia and China's conflicting interests have limited the group's ability to act in a coordinated manner. Immediately after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the SCO was unable to develop a coordinated policy against terrorism and was also unable to deal as a collective body with the United States. The United States was able to significantly increase its influence by offering aid and convincing many of its Central Asian members to allow the United States to use their territory as military bases. In July 2001, Russia and the PRC, the organization's two leading nations, signed the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. Ths move was partially attributed to growing US presence in the region and the perceived weakening of the SCO.

Starting in 2003, there was a joint counter-terrorism center built in Shanghai, China.

In the July 16 - July 17, 2004 SCO summit, held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the SCO agreed to form the Regional Antiterrorism Structure (RATS).

The effort to expand the SCO to include economic issues, courts, and joint military exercises culminated in 100 specific actions that were resolved on September 23 2004. The SCO has floated ideas for forming a free trade area that will eventually share all resources from foodstuffs to military science, this aim is frustrated by the nationalism of the five main ex-soviet Central Asian states.

The first ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 started on August 19, 2005.

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Future membership possibilities

Among other nations of the wider region, Mongolia became the first country to receive observer status in the 2004 Tashkent Summit. Pakistan, India and Iran received observer status at the 2005 SCO summit in Astana of Kazakhstan on July 5 2005.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui has said that the SCO will not take in new members before its six members make serious studies. However the SCO has since encouraged India to join the organization, saying that they would properly consider a membership application should it decide to join the group. [1]

In a series of meetings in February 2006 with Chinese officials and media, the President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf argued in favour of Pakistan's qualification to join the organization as a full member. China said that it would convey Pakistan’s desire to all SCO member states. [2] In turn Musharraf was formally invited the sixth summit of the SCO to take place in Shanghai, in June 2006. [3]

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See also

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External links

fr:Organisation de coopération de Shanghai ru:Шанхайская организация сотрудничества tr:Shanghai İşbirliği Örgütü zh:上海合作组织

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