Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is not Nato

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is celebrating 20 years of its success and diversity. It has graduated from a small organisation to one of most important organisations of the world.

Owning to its success and influence, it has started attracting attention of global community. As the progress of SCO is being watched keenly, the global community is trying to compare it with different organizations. Nato is the constant referenced organisation.

Political figures and experts from the West are putting consistent efforts to draw parallels between SCO and Nato.

Howbeit, SCO and Nato have no comparison. Nato was created to guarantee security to the member states through political and military arms.

Political arm was tasked to lead promotion of Western values and diplomatic solutions for conflicts and problems. The organisation also has the duty to advocate for liberal economic, democracy and human right models. Through these values, they created a window for interferences in other countries.

The military arm is being used to force other countries to accept the Western terms and values. Second, Nato is a binding alliance which means all the members are bound to share responsibility and act according to the situation. Article 5 of treaty binds all the members to act together, no matter, they like it or not. In nutshell, Nato has confined itself to the interest of a few countries and to protect their interests.

On the contrary, SCO was built by adhering to the philosophy of Shanghai Spirit which revolves around the principles of trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilisations and pursuit of common development. It is open to all. It promotes consultation and inclusiveness for decision-making.

Second, SCO is based on the principle of partnership. It means there is no binding on the members. They are free to take decisions and formulate policies according to their own interests and circumstances. The organisation has no right or mandate to interfere in the internal affairs of the member states. Owning to partnership philosophy and non-interference, it was able to accommodate archrivals – Pakistan and India. Although, the two countries have great differences, or we can say enmity, they are working together in the SCO. Now, Iran is full member and Saudi Arabia is on the way to join the organisation.

Although, Russia is pioneer member of SCO, all the member states are free to deal with Russia-Ukraine crisis independently and there is no pressure from SCO to take certain position.

Third, SCO is not a military alliance and work through diplomatic, development and political means. It also does not promote any specific values. Rather, it promotes respect for diverse cultures and values. That’s why it is home to different civilisations like Chinese, Indus, Iranian, Russian, Central Asian and Muslim.

Fourth, SCO is a comprehensive organisation with a focus on community with shared future. Development and peaceful coexistence is the core value. SCO promotes cooperation among the members in diverse fields including economic linkages, people-to-people exchanges, connectivity, digital economy, energy, poverty and climate change etc. Owning to continued efforts, trade volume among the member states has crossed the mark of $343 billion in 2021 which is 40% higher than the previous year.

Now, the member states are discussing to enhance their cooperation in the field of poverty, climate change, energy, health care, education and non-traditional security threats etc. Healthcare is getting more focus after the outbreak of COVID-19. SCO University is another distinctive initiative to promote education, quality human capital and understanding of each other.

The concept of common good is also getting attention and the members are ready to share their responsibility, especially in the fields of environment, peace, health, vaccine and food security, sustainability of supply chains etc.

Besides, China is offering generous economic opportunities to the SCO members. China, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, has established China-SCO Local Economic & Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area, Qingdao and China-SCO Forum on the Digital Economy Industry. The forum has been tasked to look for opportunities to give impetus to digital economy and digital transformation. President Xi is of the view that world is going through rapid technological changes. China being one of the leading countries, must share the dividend of its technological development with the developing and less-developed countries. SCO is a good place to start with.

China is also offering special opportunities to the SCO members under the BRI, especially in the field of green development and digital technology. Green development is one of the most important areas of discussion in the context of climate change and higher vulnerability of the member states. There is a consensus among the members that green development will help tackle problems of poverty and climate change. China is also aiding the member states through green silk route and digital silk route initiatives.

Based on above discussion, we can infer that SCO and Nato are entirely different organisations from their conceptualisation to objectives and operationalisation. It is not an exclusive club of rich boys like Nato. Therefore, any attempt to compare SCO with Nato will be an attempt to undermine the scope of this organisation.