(W.E.Talk) The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and “Oriental Wisdom”

By Zhang Shuo from CNS

Bolat Nurgaliyev is a former deputy foreign minister of Kazakhstan and former secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Currently, he is the director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His research fields include global politics and the economy, and national and regional security trends.

The SCO, founded in 2001, has become one of the largest transregional organizations in the world, playing an increasingly important role in dialogue among different civilizations and cultural exchanges. Bolat Nurgaliyev explains the differences between the SCO and similar organizations dominated by the West, especially the "Oriental wisdom" of the former.

CNS: How do you see the SCO, a regional yet international organization connecting 18 countries and nearly half of the world’s population?

Bolat Nurgaliyev: Although the SCO is a relatively young organization, it has made many unique contributions to regional—and even global—security, stability and sustainable development. Its goal is to create mutual trust among its member states who share borders, solve problems and jointly respond to the challenges to national and regional security and stability.

With its expansion, it has become an important part of the international system with its influence going beyond its member states.

In the 1990s, the "Shanghai Five," five countries sharing borders—China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan—formed a new collective security model, opening a new chapter in the Asia–Pacific region. In 2001, it was succeeded by the SCO, with Uzbekistan becoming the sixth member. Later, India and Pakistan became its new members. The SCO came into being to jointly fight terrorism, separatism and extremism. With time, its cooperation areas have expanded, covering politics, economy, society, humanities and other fields.

Afghanistan has always remained important in the SCO's security agenda. The SCO-Afghanistan Liaison Group is pooling in regional efforts for constructive engagement with all parties involved for a peaceful settlement of the Afghan issue.

The SCO has successfully completed the mission entrusted to it at the beginning of its establishment, optimized its sustainable development and responded flexibly to the international development process.