Forging a New Security Order in Eurasia: China, the SCO, and the Impacts on Regional Governance

Abstract

Beijing played a critical role in establishing the SCO in the aftermath of the break of the former Soviet Union in response to the emerging non-traditional security challenges. Overtime, the SCO has evolved into a regional institution critical to China’s growing interests in Central Asia/Eurasia and increasingly, Beijing seeks to influence and shape the organization in support of its institutional balancing strategy—inclusive in soliciting Russian endorsement of its diplomatic agendas in the region ranging from energy security and greater economic integration, and exclusive in resisting and preventing US influence in the region. Lately, that strategy has also been displayed in the SCO membership expansion to India to minimize chance of a Washington–Delhi axis against China, at least not where SCO-wide (that would include China) interests are concerned. But the most critical transformation of the SCO as a regional institution is its utility in Beijing’s exclusive institutional balancing strategy against the US, to prevent the latter from gaining access and influence in Central Asia/Eurasia; to foster trust among member states, and develop the SCO into a regional security community, and to safeguard Chinese interests in both geo-economic (trade and energy) and geopolitical (security and regional stability) terms.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): The Role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Geopolitical Security and Economic Cooperation

“…These joint military exercises, an integral part of the SCO's efforts, are essential for the region's security and safeguarding of the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The activities of terrorist organizations, religious extremists, and national separatist forces pose a significant threat to implementing the BRI, making them the region's most pressing non-traditional security challenge (Yuan, 2023). These extremist groups, despite differences in political objectives, organizational structures, personnel, and activities, share a common characteristic, such as opposition to secular governments and the advocacy of establishing Islamic states.…”

What Is the Indo-Pacific? Genealogy, Securitization, and the Multipolar System

“…Indeed, the United States’ unipolar liberal order is being challenged by Russia and China and QUAD states perceive this as a threat and a disturbance to the previous unipolar American order which preserved the status quo (Mochizuki 2022 ; Beeson and Lee-Brown 2021 ; Liff 2022 ; Morrison 2019 ). As revisionist powers, Russia and China are seeking to reform the international order together as they seek further power (Yuan 2022 ; Allison 2017 ; Pavlova 2018 ). This shift has been noted by scholars to show that the nature of global politics has changed significantly since the end of the twentieth century (Pieterse 2018 ; Woodley 2015 ).…”