China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Abstract

This paper argues that China’s growing role in international affairs makes it pertinent to comprehensively analyse its relations with smaller neighbours. The Central Asian region figures prominently in China’s regional policy calculations. After the end of the Cold War, China took several steps to engage the Central Asian Republics. In addition to its bilateral manoeuvrings, China took regional initiative in the form of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). In the beginning of the 21st century, the SCO, conceptualised by China, and willingly or otherwise endorsed by Russia, turned out to be the fulcrum of China’s diplomacy towards the Central Asian region. Over the years, through the SCO, China has established its influence in both political and economic domains, and hence, arguably emerged as a major stakeholder in the politics of the region. In essence, mechanisms, apparatus and institutional processes of the SCO have been utilised by China in executing its diplomatic initiatives in the Central Asian region. Such has been the impact of China’s diplomacy in Central Asia that within two decades since its inception, today the SCO is perceived and accepted as a leading regional platform of the wider Eurasian region. This paper argues that, for China, the Central Asian region has emerged as a diplomatic success in terms of both quantitative (in trade and investment volumes) and qualitative (tangible agreements) terms. Keywords: China; Central Asian Republics; Russia; Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO); regional security.