GCC Countries’ Future Relationship With the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: Motivation and Prospect

Abstract

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is the most important economic, energy and political coalition in the Middle East. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is the most influential Eurasian political and economic bloc. In the vicissitude international situation, the SCO is expanding westward; Qatar and Saudi Arabia have become the partners of dialogue; Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE have applied for being partners for dialogue. Likewise, the GCC is looking eastward, exploring cooperation with Russia within the framework of ‘OPEC+’, with China in ‘China-GCC Summit and China-GCC Strategic Dialogue’, and with India within the framework of I2U2 (Israel, India, United States and the United Arab Emirates). The ‘SCO + GCC+’ cooperation mechanism is inclusive, compatible with the US, European and the NATO’s military engagement with the GCC, which will open a new ground for bilateral cooperation and multilateral interaction between East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, North Asia and West Asia, conducive to building ‘an Asian community of shared future’ in the long run.