Shanghai Alliance: how a new alliance appeared in the world
On June 15, 2001, the leaders of the five countries adopted a declaration on the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which has become one of the key participants in the modern system of international relations. The SCO has become a constructive alternative to the adventures and provocations that are shaking the modern world. Izvestia recalled how it was.
Central Asian landscape
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, several newly independent states, former republics of the USSR, appeared in the region. Their adaptation to the new conditions was not smooth. Interethnic conflicts broke out there — several "hot spots" at once. At the same time, these countries joined the CIS, and they had no intention of destroying close economic and political ties with Russia. China began to play a more prominent role in the commercial and industrial life of the region than before. To make the political processes at this crossroads of ancient trade routes orderly and predictable, it was necessary to create an organization that could represent this region internationally and contribute to the development of economic — and not only! — communication and settlement of imminent disputes. This was recognized in Moscow, Beijing, and the capitals of the recent Central Asian republics of the USSR.
On April 26, 1996, in Shanghai, the heads of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed an agreement on confidence-building in the military field in the border area. In 2001, Uzbekistan joined the association, and the scope of meetings and initiatives expanded. On June 15, 2001, the heads of the six States adopted the Declaration on the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The SCO structure was formed gradually, without spurts, based on the agreement between the powers that made up this community. The tasks of the organization, which combined strategy and tactics, were also adjusted. One of the first decisions of the association was the Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism. The headquarters of the Committee of the regional Anti-terrorist structure (RATS) has been opened in Tashkent. The Belt and Road project, proposed by the Chinese side, has become an important program designed to enhance economic cooperation between the SCO countries. This initiative is generally positively perceived in all SCO member states as a possible basis for the formation of a space in Eurasia for mutually beneficial cooperation and interaction in accordance with international law on the one hand, and taking into account national interests on the other. The SCO countries have repeatedly declared their commitment to finding collective approaches to solving global problems. In 1997, another agreement was signed in Moscow on the mutual reduction of armed forces in the border areas.
The Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization SCO during the first expanded summit in the Chinese city of Shanghai
The SCO is not a military bloc, and there are no provisions in its documents that could be interpreted as a threat to its neighbors. But ensuring security in the region, and hence the interaction of the Organization's powers in the military sphere, is developing no less actively than economic cooperation. Joint exercises of units of the Russian and Chinese armies and fleets have repeatedly become world-class events.
The organization has become a center of gravity in the Eurasian space. Of the Central Asian countries, only Turkmenistan did not join the organization, considering work in international structures to be a violation of the principle of neutrality, which became the basis of Ashgabat's policy. At the same time, Turkmenistan participates in SCO summits and actively cooperates with the Organization's countries, especially on the development of transnational transport corridors. The westernmost "outpost" of the SCO has become Belarus, a full member of the organization since 2024.
Strength tests
The work within the SCO has greatly contributed to the emergence of a triangle of strategic allies in Eurasia: Russia– India–China. Until recently, such a block was considered something out of the realm of fiction. When, in the late 1990s, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yevgeny Primakov, spoke about the need to create a Moscow-Delhi–Beijing axis, most experts considered this a plan for the distant future. It was believed that it would take at least half a century before these three great powers with such different and complicated histories would find a common language.
The contradictions were too great, mainly between China and India. But it turned out that common interests outweigh the burden of years of disputes, and cooperation is more important than competition. Especially in times of global challenges, when stability and security can only be achieved together. And the world's largest states — in terms of territory, population, strategic reserves of crucial resources, and influence on political life — have not only declared that they have a lot in common, but have also shown it.
For both Delhi and Beijing, as well as for Moscow, Western pressure has become an impetus to strengthen their own sovereignty. That is why such associations as the SCO are moving from discussions to specifics faster than before.
The SCO Community has adequately passed the strength tests related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of Russian medical specialists worked in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in those months, helping tens of thousands of citizens of these countries in the fight against the pandemic. At the suggestion of Chinese President Xi Jinping, it was decided to create a "hotline" between the SCO countries on the situation with coronavirus. The SCO powers coordinated work on the creation of vaccines against the deadly disease. According to experts, the fight against the epidemic was more successful in the SCO countries than in Western countries. The reason is the effective mobilization of medical resources, which is possible only in a reasonably regulated economy.
In 2025, the SCO countries adopted a declaration in Tianjin, China, condemning "unilateral coercive measures, including those of an economic nature," adopted in recent years in the practice of interstate relations. This is a stone in the garden of those who call "undesirable" countries "outcasts". The SCO also recognizes the need to "preserve the historical memory of World War II" and condemns attempts to rehabilitate the ideas of Nazism and distort the role of the peoples of the participating countries in defeating fascism. There are no contradictions between our countries in understanding these important matters. It was the Soviet Union and China that suffered the heaviest losses during the Second World War. This is beyond doubt and review.
The territory of the SCO countries is more than 35 million square kilometers, that is, 65% of the territory of Eurasia. The population is 3.5 billion people, which is half of the world's population. The four SCO states — Russia, China, India and Pakistan — are known to be nuclear powers. The SCO is an observer at the UN General Assembly and has concluded a number of partnership agreements with leading international and regional organizations and structures such as the UN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and ASEAN.
Russia, China, India and Iran are members of the "Big Space Club", an informal association of states that have the ability to launch their own satellites with their own launch vehicle from their own spaceport. It is impossible to ignore such an association. There is only one question: for the SCO to play a key role in the political life of the region, not only the representative composition of its members is important, but also their intentions and their serious attitude towards the established community in Shanghai.
A look into the future
After the collapse of the USSR, Washington has not given up trying to build a unipolar system that would extend to the whole world. This means American hegemony in the economy, in the military-political aspect, in popular culture, and in the imposition of a certain lifestyle... But what about the rights of States to choose their own development model and cultural identity? It is suggested to forget about it. But this idea is not popular in the SCO space.
"The SCO is distinguished by the principles of equality, mutual benefit, consideration of each other's interests, search for compromises, and consensus—building," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defines the success of the Organization. Therefore, more and more countries are striving to develop ties with the SCO. The circle of those who have received observer status or become dialogue partners within the SCO is constantly expanding.
The political basis of the supporters of a multipolar world is anti—colonialism. The SCO unites countries that have never been colonial empires. Rather, they offered the world the principles of free unification of ethnic groups, and more broadly, civilizations. This attracts dozens of Asian countries and even geographically remote Africa and South America to the SCO. But they value respect for cultural traditions and independence in politics.
The anniversary of the Organization is not so much a time to summarize the first results, as an occasion to look into the future. The development of information technology, the emergence of new types of weapons, work in space, medical and biological innovations — all this requires a coordinated approach by professionals from different countries. Political decisions are also important, which create favorable conditions for the development of technologies that help us create a modern technological, but at the same time secure world. Today, the unity of the SCO countries on key strategic issues has become a lightning rod that helps to avoid a major war. For resources, for transport hubs and lines. Central Asia remains a safe haven for a troubled humanity. The European and North American "centers of power" are built on the principles of colonialist expansion. This is evident every now and then, despite their current commitment to tolerance. The unity of the SCO has become a counterweight to such radicalism.
Over the past 25 years, the partnership of the SCO countries has acquired the features of a system in which many things are interconnected. Plans for the development of the economy and the achievement of security guarantees, without which all the "silk roads" will remain searchlights and will have no effect. The principle of multipolarity has become key to our countries' international strategy. While preserving their cultural and economic identity, the SCO states do not accept anyone's dictates. It is pointless to talk to them with the intonation peculiar to the self-appointed "masters of discourse." It is not surprising that more and more countries in the world are interested in cooperation with the SCO community.
The author is the deputy editor—in-chief of the magazine "Historian"
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