SCO grows, expands, does more work
- By Sun Zhuangzhi
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E-mail China Daily, July 10, 2015
Seeing each other as the most important neighbor and strategic partner, Beijing and Moscow have begun to play a bigger role in global affairs thanks to their deepening coordination.
Politically, both countries engage in timely communication to reach consensuses on their policies and global issues. And the complementary nature of their resource endowments and economic structures, as well as their shared non-aligned security mindsets, have empowered the China-Russia relationship to act as a prominent safeguard for regional peace. Also, the increasing people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries are likely to underpin the bilateral strategic partnership.
It is foreseeable that the demonstration effects of a healthy bond between China and Russia will top the agenda at this year's SCO summit, prompting the members to make accelerated efforts to jointly forge a community of shared destiny, featuring inclusive multinational relations.
The "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development, has made the SCO an effective regional organization, and it will further boost in-group transnational cooperation after India and Pakistan become member states.
The latest expansion will generate more opportunities for multilateral cooperation, thus giving the bloc a better say in the Eurasian, even global affairs. But it may affect the SCO in other ways, given the latent dangers attached to the two new members, which are constantly challenged by terrorism, separatism and extremism.
It has been five years since India and Pakistan became SCO observers, and they have developed sound relations with the six member states in the pursuit of a fair and just international order. The SCO has been very cautious in admitting the observers and it has prepared well-considered plans for the potential problems. But with the expansion of its membership, the increasingly consolidated regional organization will be able to assume more responsibility for global stability and prosperity.
The author is secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Research Center, affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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