Geopolitical Position of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization within the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

This paper will analyze the geopolitical position of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) within the controversial, pretentious, and grandiose Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The paper shall be made of three parts. The first part will tackle geopolitical schools that exist amongst Chinese academia and policymakers. Our attention will be focused on the debate on the geopolitical thoughts which occurred after publishing China`s first military strategy in 2015. The second part of the paper will tackle the institutional development of the SCO. This Organization stems from the Shanghai Five mechanism which China initiated in 1996 and which was supported by Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, by Uzbekistan in 2001 and by India and Pakistan in 2017, respectively. By analyzing the institutional development of the SCO, readers will be able to understand how the SCO fits or, even, reinforce Chinese geopolitical ambitions. The third part of the paper will explain the role of the SCO in the Silk Road Economic Belt, that is, in the part of space that Mackinder defined as Heartland. At the same time, we cannot ignore the upcoming role of the SCO in Chinese maritime geopolitical ambitions, that is, in the space of Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific. Still, different historical backgrounds, individual interpretation of security interests, asymmetric levels of development amongst member states of the SCO are factors that produce political and economic mistrust within the SCO. Additionally, economic and trade globalization enhances two parallel trends. On one side, it enhances the flow of goods, people, services, and capital, and on the other side, it reinforces the vulnerability of borders and the flow of terrorists. Those challenges require pragmatic, flexible, and bold approaches which should be based on respecting the interests of the SCO member states and the guiding principles of the SCO.