Страны Центральной Азии и расширение ШОС

Abstract

This paper is aimed at the analysis of the position of the Central Asian states — members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on the SCO enlargement. SCO was originally formed by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The enlargement of SCO took place in 2017. The bids of two new participants — India and Pakistan, were approved. Currently, SCO has two more applications to evaluate — those of Iran and Afghanistan. This paper analyses the views, expressed by the politicians and academic circles of former Soviet republics of Central Asia regarding the probable approval of each application and the perspectives of SCO enlargement. Thus, two main trends can be traced: the vital interest to Iran’s application and the negative attitude towards Afghanistan’s application. The first can be explained by the Central Asian states’ expectations regarding economic cooperation with Iran, while the second — by their concern about the regional security risks. At the same time, the attitude of Central Asian states towards Iran is not similar and depends on problems in bilateral relations. Key words: Central Asia, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran.