The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its 24th summit of heads of state on July 4 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Major Western media excoriated the event when they didn’t ignore it all together but it proved to be one for the record books.
It brought together in a single room the leadership of countries representing 80% of the Eurasian landmass, 40% of the global population and nearly 30% of global GDP. The fruit of more than two decades of inter-Eurasian diplomacy, the SCO has ten full members (Belarus joined on July 4) and 14 “dialogue partners” from Asia and the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
The summit participants approved 25 strategic documents covering energy, security, trade, environment and finance.
The message, of course, is that Eurasian integration continues to press ahead with unmitigated gusto despite (or more likely because of) bloody conflicts, barefaced meddling by outside powers in the internal affairs of Asian nations and the increasing unreliability – repeatedly articulated – of the US dollar as a “non-partisan” means of exchange and store of value.
Eurasian security concept
The real story of the SCO Summit, for anyone paying close attention (I was there), is that Eurasian countries are moving to establish an indivisible, Eurasia-centric collective security framework that would work alongside post-WWII international security architecture, despite the latter’s shortcomings and contradictions.
Missing this deeper point, many in the Western press corps characterized the summit either as a forum for business development, an exercise in fruitless optics or an effort to acquire prestige on the part of states languishing in the gulag of non-Western, misfit nations.
As stated in the Astana Declaration, “[the member states] consider unacceptable attempts by individual countries or groups of states to provide for their own security at the expense of the security of other states.” Turkish President Recep Erdogan echoed this view:
“As Turkey, we constantly draw attention to the shortcomings of the current international order. Despite all obstacles, we are working to build an effective international system where right makes might – not the other way around – and which embraces the whole humanity, promotes peace, security, stability, and prosperity, tackles economic disparities, and eliminates global injustices.”
Member states would welcome any Eurasian country joining the SCO, subject to regular accession criteria. China has specifically stated that it welcomes US allies to participate in what it calls a new security arrangement.
The list of applicants is growing, and explains, in part, the presence at the Summit of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (Qatar) and H H Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah (UAE).
Turkey, a member of NATO, is close to signing up as a full member, following in Iran’s footsteps. “We want to further develop our relations with Russia and China within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. We believe they should accept us not just as a ‘dialogue partner’ but as a member like the others,” said Erdogan.
SCO chair and host of the confab, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, underscored the summit’s underlying focus on security: “Today, the world is facing serious challenges due to unprecedented geopolitical contradictions and growing conflict potential. The architecture of international security is under threat, which could lead to dire consequences for all of humankind. In such a crucial period, we have a great responsibility to strengthen peace, stability, and security through collective efforts at regional and global levels.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the same point: “No matter how the international landscape changes, the [SCO] must uphold a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security [system]. Real security is premised on the security of all countries.”
President Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan stated that SCO members should build on the “Shanghai Spirit” of unity and cohesion and “intensify joint efforts to strengthen the atmosphere of trust and friendship within the SCO and to remove barriers to deeper cooperation. First of all, it is necessary to undertake a comprehensive reevaluation of the conceptual foundation underpinning the SCO’s security-related activities.”
The heads of state of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Turkey echoed these sentiments. Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar represented Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SCO.
A Western press report suggested that Modi did not attend the SCO Summit because he felt “unease among some members about the direction the SCO is headed.”
Actually, according to Indian sources, Modi, besides having urgent parliamentary duties, was reluctant to engage with President Xi until further progress is made at the ministerial level on resolving Sino-Indian border issues along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.
For Modi and Xi to have met would have been premature. Border issues between the two heads of state will probably be left until the October 2024 BRICS meeting in Kazan, Russia. Yes, Modi missed out on meeting President Putin in Astana but the two leaders were already scheduled to meet in Moscow on July 8during the NATO summit in Washington.
To say that Modi is uneasy with the direction of the SCO is nonsense. It’s more likely that Western think tank mandarins are uneasy with India’s emerging strategic autonomy – but that’s another story.
SCO de-dollarization
Meanwhile, SCO members reaffirmed their intention to increase the use of national currencies in trade between countries and called for the expansion of non-SWIFT payment and settlement systems within the group.
Once again, President Tokayev summed up the view: “The process of transition to settlements in national currencies has gained positive momentum.” The Astana Declaration said: “Member States emphasized the importance of further implementation by interested states of the SCO for a gradual increase in the share of national currencies.”
The SCO’s efforts to move away from Western payment and settlement systems will continue to gain momentum as long as the West continues to apply unilateral sanctions and restrictions on the use of US dollars, which the Global South and SCO members view as incompatible with international law and property rights.
In conclusion, the 2024 Astana Declaration was no simple rehash in bureaucratese of the 2022 Samarkand Declaration. In its SCO+ format, the Astana Declaration represented a thoughtful set of statements and principles about the intentions and policies of the organization’s members. To dismiss it and the speeches of the SCO’s members as mere banter or as a prestige-building exercise would be a fool’s errand.
The SCO’s aim of creating a new Eurasia-centric collective security framework that recognizes the sovereign autonomy of independent nations in a multipolar world and the principle that peace is best served by a foreign policy that pursues the common good is the real story from the Astana 2024 SCO Summit.
Western think tank mandarins should pay attention; the nations of Eurasia and the Global South certainly are.