The SCO as the Zone of Shared Understanding: Recent developments and future prospects

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has become a valuable tool for promoting Sino-Russian interests in Central Asia and beyond. This organization suits these great powers because they believe that the SCO is the right mechanism for policy coordination through non-binding consultations. The organization’s lukewarm support for Russia’s interventions in Georgia and Ukraine suggest that the SCO has managed to preserve its goal of not letting a single state overshadow the agenda and it considers the interests of all. However, Russia’s continuous preference for military interference in its neighborhood might make it harder for China, and subsequently the SCO, to remain impartial, and thus a more pro-active approach in mediating the tensions in the region might be under consideration. This paper argues that such shift is unlikely in the near future considering China’s stance on non-interference and its lack of experience in mediating international conflicts.