Abstract
The concept of the Silk Road Economic Belt put forward by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2013 has two major dimensions: “the Road” and “the Belt”. This article examines the background, the legal status, values, institutional framework and major areas of cooperation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). In doing so, it argues that building “the Road” may lead to the following: (a) the transformation of the SCO from hitherto primarily security-oriented alliance into “the Belt”, i.e. an organisation pursuing also deep economic cooperation, and (b) the establishment of a Silk Road Union based on partnership between SCO and the Eurasian alliance, constituted by two most important regional integration groupings created in the post-Soviet area, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union.
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Notes
Tajikistan, which is a CSTO member and was one of the founding members of the EurAsEC, is not currently a member of the EAEU but explores the possibility of joining it (Putz 2016).
SCO Charter of 7 June 2002, Preamble. http://www.hrichina.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/Reports/SCO/2011-HRIC-SCO-Whitepaper-AppendixA-SCO-Docs.pdf. Accessed 15 April 2017.
SCO Charter of 7 June 2002, Article 1.
See e.g. Declaration on the Fifth Anniversary of the SCO of 15 June 2006. http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/meeting/171589.htm. Accessed 15 April 2017.
CSTO Charter of 7 October 2002, Article 4. http://www.odkb-csto.org/documents/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=1896. Accessed 15 April 2017.
Treaty on the EAEU of 29 May 2014, Article 3. http://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/70/docs/treaty_on_eeu.pdf. Accessed 15 April 2017.
Following the Andijon events of May 2005 and deterioration of relations with the EU and the USA, Uzbekistan joined the Eurasian alliance by obtaining membership in both EurAsEC in January 2006 and the CSTO in June 2006. However, due to the gradual improvement of relations with the West and most importantly deepening integration processes in Eurasia (in particular, the creation of a Collective Rapid Reaction Force within the CSTO in 2009 and the establishment of a customs union in the framework of the EurAsEC in 2010), Uzbekistan decided to suspend its membership in EurAsEC in November 2008 and in the CSTO in June 2012. Yet Uzbekistan remains fully committed to its membership in the SCO, an organization that serves as a forum for dialogue and cooperation but does not pursue deep integration projects.
In fact, the SCO may grant states or international organisations concerned the status of an observer or a dialogue partner and may be joined by new members upon the decision of the Council of Heads of State based on a recommendation of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, provided new members will respect and comply with the provisions of the SCO treaties and instruments. See SCO Charter, Article 14.
Ibid., Article 13.
In 2013–2014, the possibility of obtaining full membership was also expressed by Turkey but rather as a diplomatic gesture indicating Turkish frustration with the stalled negotiations on EU accession. However, Turkish membership in the SCO is hardly possible in view of the Turkish participation in NATO.
BRICS (an association of major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and, since 2010, South Africa) has held annual summits since 2009, with members taking turns to host. The grouping’s first summit, held in Yekaterinburg (Russia), also coincided with the SCO top-level meeting.
Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation Between the Member States of the SCO of 16 August 2007, Article 5. http://www.hrichina.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/Reports/SCO/2011-HRIC-SCO-Whitepaper-AppendixA-SCO-Docs.pdf. Accessed 15 April 2017
Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism of 15 June 2001 and the SCO Counter-Terrorism Convention of 16 June 2009
See SCO Charter, Articles 2, 4 and 6.
See the text of the Memorandum in Russian at http://rus.sectsco.org/documents/?page=2. Accessed 15 April 2017.
It is also noteworthy that the SCO members agreed in recent years to boost interaction in the field of information security and to build a “secure information environment” with the alleged purpose of fighting extremist ideology and terrorist propaganda.
It is noteworthy that during the events in Kyrgyzstan in 2010 (a coup d’état against President Bakiev in April and the eruption of ethnic violence between the Kyrgyz majority and the Uzbek minority in June), there were calls, in particular from Belarusian President Lukashenko, to deploy the CRRF to support Bakiev. But Russia and other CSTO member states were reluctant to use the CRRF, not least because those who seized political power in Kyrgyzstan were even more pro-Russian than those who were deposed. At the SCO summit, in June 2010, the parties expressed only their hope for “a speedy stabilization of the political situation in Kyrgyzstan”. See Declaration of the 10th Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of States of 10–11 June 2010. http://rus.sectsco.org/documents. Accessed 15 April 2017.
See e.g. Declaration of the Heads of State of the Member States of the SCO on Building a Region of Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity.
See SCO Charter, Article 1.
See Program of Multilateral Economic and Trade Cooperation between SCO Member States of 23 September 2003. The text in Russian is available at http://www.sco-ec.gov.cn/crweb/scor/info/Article.jsp?a_no=721&col_no=67. Accessed 15 April 2017
See the text of the Memorandum in Russian at http://base.consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online.cgi?req=doc;base=INT;n=51522. Accessed 15 April 2017
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Kembayev, Z. Implementing the Silk Road Economic Belt: from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to the Silk Road Union?. Asia Eur J 16, 37–50 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-017-0483-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-017-0483-4