The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO): An Emerging Player in South Asia Policy Options for India

By : S. Y. Surendra Kumar

Page No: 205-221

Abstract
With the objective of addressing the security concerns of the newly independent countries created after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was established in 2001. These countries came to the realization that this cannot be done unilaterally; rather, a multilateral strategy is required to address transnational issues, and that the SCO would facilitate close cooperation with the Central Asian Region (CAR), to promote international trade and regional growth. At the same time, due to the US hegemony, countries like China and Russia sought to legitimate their own internal political systems, and increase interaction with East Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia. In broad terms, the SCO continues to strengthen the regional framework to bring about peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and, in a sense, protect their countries’ strategic interests beyond Central Asia. In this context, this essay makes an effort to analyse the reasons for the SCO’s increasing foot prints in South Asia, and what could be policy options for India. It argues that it is in India’s interest to continue to engage with the SCO as also with its multi-alignment policy to secure its interests in both Central Asia and South Asia.

Author :
Dr S. Y. Surendra Kumar : Professor, Department of Political Science, Bangalore University, Bengaluru
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/IFAJ.2022.17.3-4.6