The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is challenging the Western global order, with prominent countries - some of the world's top economies and military powerhouses trying to reset ties amid a global tariff war imposed by the United States.
The organisation currently has 10 member states: Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, while Belarus became a member of the bloc in 2024.
Ongoing conflicts
There is an ongoing war in Gaza, in which Israel has killed more than 63,000 people, followed by the Russian and Ukrainian war, which remains a critical puzzle for the international community to solve, as both sides push to prolong the conflict.
Subsequently, a 12-day war between Iran and Israel witnessed Western powers coming in full support of Israel and US airstrikes, deeming them necessary to prevent Iran from having nukes.
Then the four-day escalation between India and Pakistan also redefined the Western bureaucracy and its focus towards South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Western hypocrisy exposed
Western hypocrisy was exposed when the United States President slapped the highest percentage of tariffs on India and members of the BRICS, including Brazil, as a power projection sign.
Apart from China, Trump targeted two of the major rising global economies, India and Brazil, in a bid to slow down their economic prosperity, which could pose a serious challenge to the global north, according to Western experts.
Also read: US policy shift puts spotlight on India’s Russian oil imports
Amid all this, China seems to have emerged as a global force, not only providing an alternative market to the global south and African economies but also ensuring protection of interests of smaller countries in the region, showing signs of a true global power.
Importance of SCO
The importance of this bloc is seen with keen interest by the Western world, as the majority of the global south nations are meeting in China to discuss trade, collective security, and mutual respect towards one another.
The importance is also visible in terms of the resources SCO possesses collectively; together, it represents a total of 40-42 per cent of the world population with 20-25 per cent of GDP and up to 80 per cent of the greater Eurasian landmass.
Western nations are particularly concerned about the promotion of a balanced, fair-trade approach and collective security being promoted by China and Russia under the multipolar world approach.
Western countries worry about the SCO's focus on state power, sovereign non-interference, and its crackdown on dissent conflicts with liberal democratic values, while its economic agenda may be seen as a tool for challenging the existing US-led unipolar international world order.
The RIC factor
Russia, India, and China, which remain the top three nations in the SCO and are also members of the BRICS, are posing significant challenges to the United States; all three nations have remained firm against the US tariffs.
If India and China manage their disagreements, particularly concerning the territorial issues in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, the RIC has all the potential to be an alternative global order counterweighted to that of the West.
India’s position matters the most in this case, as it remains the only nation to have a security alliance with the West, led by the US, while it also maintains a presence in some of the most important and rival organisations, including the BRICS and SCO, comprising anti-West nations.
The future
On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting more than 20 nations and heads of 10 international organisations on the banks of the Haihe River to review the SCO achievements.
The SCO has transformed into a new model of international relations and regional cooperation and a constructive force of global importance. Since its commencement 24 years ago, the organisation has strictly adhered to the principle emphasising mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilisations, and the pursuit of common development.
When the global order remains in chaos due to unfair trade practices adopted by the United States, SCO has remained confident in shaping the next-level advanced partnership that would usher in a new era of prosperity in the global South while bypassing the Western global order.
By Waseem Ahmad Ganie
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