The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its annual summit in mid-August, providing the occasion for another round of hand-wringing over whether an anti-Western bloc has emerged. Those dark speculations are exaggerated. Indeed, the rest of the world should support efforts to increase counterterrorism capabilities in Central Asia and the region's integration into the global economy.
The SCO was formed in 2001 and its members include China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran are observer countries. It was founded to fight the three "isms" — extremism, terrorism and separatism, and originally focused on law enforcement and security cooperation. It has since evolved to include cultural and economic cooperation, but its primary concern continues to be security issues.
China and Russia appear to be driving forces behind the group, and some worry that the Moscow-Beijing axis aims to produce a political-military institution that would counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and act as a shield against the spread of values the Western bloc represents. Critics point to summits dominated by criticism of unilateralism — sometimes referring to unspecified "powers," sometimes targeting Washington by name — and the invitation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to observe despite his country's standoff with the IAEA. The call, two years ago, by SCO leaders for the United States to remove its bases from Central Asia was seen as a move to reduce potential American interest in the region and a real indicator of the group's priorities.