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Strategic Vision vol. 11, no. 54 (October, 2022)
Catching the Shanghai Spirit Turkey, other SCO members tilt on the axis of a transforming global system Diren Doğan
photo: Kremlin.ru
T
President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, left, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
he Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), was founded under the name The Shanghai Five to address the security and economic challenges faced by its founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Security problems such as border insecurity emerged in the Eurasian region after the collapse of the USSR and with the emergence of a new strategic environment in the post-Cold War period. This laid the foundations for the 1996 founding of the SCO. With the evolution of global geopolitics to a unipolar structure, as well as the rise of Islamic Terrorism
following the 9/11 attacks, the organization expanded in both membership and scope, adding to its agenda such themes as multilateralism, terrorism, separatism, and the development of cooperation between member countries. Today, the SCO has nine member states, three observer members, and six dialogue partners, and constitutes one of the most important dialogue mechanisms behind the “Rise of Asia” thesis. Organizations under the SCO umbrella are a potential platform for countries to conduct multilateral diplomacy. In this context, for example, the SCO Heads of State Council Summit held in September 2022 provided the necessary environment for actors with
Diren Doğan is a former Taiwan MOFA fellow at the Taiwan Center for Security Studies. She can be followed on Twitter at @direndogand