China shapes future growth of SCO

This year is the first year of the second decade of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This year's summit, themed "strengthen friendship and plan the future of SCO", will be hosted by China.

Wang Lijiu, a researcher in Russian studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) recently talked to china.org.cn about his opinions in regards to the future of the SCO.

China.org.cn: What has the Chinese government done to prepare for the upcoming summit?

Wang Lijiu: As the presiding country for the SCO this year, China's job is to implement the work which was outlined during the last summit and to plan the future of the organization. China has already done a lot of work for organization's planning for the next few years.

In the upcoming summit, China will submit the plan for the next 10 years as well as change some working mechanisms on counter-terrorism and the fight against drugs, including adjusting some functions of the Counterterrorism Center in Tashkent.

The summit will also take substantive steps to enlarge membership. According to the consultative result of the SCO foreign ministers' meeting, the proposal to add Afghanistan as an observer and Turkey as a dialogue partner will be submitted to the summit.

In addition, the SCO has always been promoting economic cooperation, including establishing a SCO Development Fund and a SCO Development Bank, so as to promote and support the development of members' regional projects.

Coordinating to solve mutual problems is tough, because all SCO actions must be approved by consensus from member states. So, China's decisive action to promote cooperation during its term as president has already been commendable.

Q: Membership enlargement of the SCO is a hot topic. What' s your opinion about it?

WLJ: Enlarging membership is a normal step of any organization. SCO is an open organization and, of course, can broaden its membership based on the actual situation and requirements of the applicant countries. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan made rules on absorbing new members when they served as presidency countries. Now that we have new applicants and suitable conditions to grow, it is appropriate to add Afghanistan and Turkey as observer and a dialogue partner respectively. However, the time is not yet right to absorb these countries as members in the summit. Enlargement should be step-by-step based on the principle of developing the organization at a steady pace.

Q: A few days ago, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) invited the SCO members and observer countries to participate in its summit, which aroused great public interest. What's your opinion about this?

WLJ: NATO, as a regional security organization, which is largely centered on Europe and the Atlantic region, is adjusting its strategic agenda in order to get involved with matters outside of Europe. As a matter of fact, its recent action in Afghanistan leads to the fact that it is extending its scope out of the European region. As an important strategic tool controlled by the United States, its influence may extend to other parts of the world in the future by developing "global partnerships".

Located in the junction of Central Asia and South Asia, Afghanistan can be regarded as a Central Asian country. The problems inside Afghanistan are related to the security throughout the region, so the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan is supported not only from NATO member countries but also from many other countries outside of NATO. Although it is led by NATO, it is authorized by UN, so it has attracted worldwide attention.

SCO, as a security organization centered on Central Asia, is taking the Afghan problem as an integral part of its work. The SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group has been active for many years. Although SCO and NATO didn't build a formal partnership, they have formed some cooperation on the Afghanistan issue.

Q: What do you think the Western countries' attitude towards the SCO summit?

WLJ: Western countries have a certain understanding about the SCO so far, so they regard it as a chance to discuss how to maintain security in Central Asia rather than a threat. How to protect the security of Afghanistan after NATO withdraws its army by the end of 2014, how to reconstruct Afghanistan, and how to solve the drug problem in Afghanistan are common issues that concern both NATO and the SCO.