What is Driving India's and Pakistan's Interest in Joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization? Strategic Insights, Volume 4, Number 8 Aug 2005

Abstract

In early June 2005 at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting, India, Pakistan, and Iran were recommended for SCO "observer" status. Final SCO approval for the three countries was granted a month later at the SCO heads of state meeting held July 5-6, 2005 in Astana, Kazakhstan. This is a major step which accommodates each of the SCO member states' interests and position of the SCO to further support a multi-polar world. This paper seeks to specifically address what is driving India's and Pakistan's interest in joining the SCO? In order to answer this question, one must have an understanding of the SCO and its members. The SCO is comprised of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the SCO's evolution, other countries in the region including Mongolia, Iran, India, Pakistan, and more recently the post-Taliban Afghan government, have expressed interest, to varying degrees, in participating in this emerging regional forum. The SCO is an emerging regional organization in Central Asia, but during its short history it has largely remained an enigma. It has been characterized as a security organization, a regional forum, and an anti-terrorism coalition. Another common characterization of the SCO is as a Russian and Chinese led alliance created to counter U.S. hegemony. These explanations of the SCO have their shortfalls and provide little insight of the primary motivations and interests driving the SCO's evolution. While analysis of this larger question is important, this paper seeks to examine the possibilities and implications of either India, Pakistan or both joining the SCO as full-fledged members. In order to answer this paper's research question, it is also important to understand the current geopolitical and geoeconomic relations between Central and South Asia.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA520252

Entities

People

  • Jefferson E. Turner

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Air Force
  • Central Asia
  • Cis
  • Commerce
  • Cooperation
  • Foreign Policy
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • National Security
  • Regional Security
  • South Asia
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • Ussr

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union