"Shanghai Cooperative Organization" And Security In Central Asia Area

Regional security in Central Asia is one of the hottest issues today, and there exists a variety of differing views on the region's future development and growth. Central Asia is situated between Europe and Asia proper, and is a strategic focal point from both a military and economic perspective. Thus it has become a political hub in the international political arena, its instability directly affecting international and domestic stability and peace. The region's strategic importance has lead to the birth of the Shanghai Cooperative Organization (SCO), which has attracted much attention. The SCO is particularly significant to China. It is more than a platform through which China can intervene in Central Asia affairs; it is a breakthrough achievement resulting from China's proactive implementation of multilateral diplomatic strategies. The SCO's new security initiative represents China's position on international affairs. However, as a new organization, people know inadequately of SCO, and are even sometimes suspicious. As a newly established organization, the SCO suffers from lack of recognition and understanding, and even doubt. This article, by combing through Central Asia's security situation, attempts to identify factors that influence regional security and objectively examines SCO's role in the region's development and growth.This article is divided into three sections. The first section analyzes Central Asia's security situation and introduces the SCO's background, formation, and development. Thanks to its strategic location, Central Asia has been a historic battle ground for regional powers and has witnessed countless wars between nations and religions and countless different empires. As a result, today's Central Asia is a mixture of complex religious and ethnic conflicts, underdeveloped economy, and fragile infrastructure, leading to the prolonged instability in the region. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, other powers have tried to make their mark on the territory, adding to the intricate security puzzle and creating many security concerns that the newly created Central Asian countries cannot resolve independently.The second section describes the birth, purpose, and significance of the SCO.Based on the continued evolution of the region's security situation, the leaders of Central Asian countries are promoting the transformation of the "Shanghai Five"—the mechanism for regular meetings between China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikstan to resolve multilateral border conflicts—into the SCO, whose mission has been elevated to regional cooperation. This successful transition marks one of the most important diplomatic triumphs in today's political environment. It creates precedence for a security model based on mutual trust, disarmament, and cooperative security, and solidifies non-alignment partnership such as the one between Russia and China. The SCO has, through much practice, established a reputation of being trust-worthy, mutually beneficial, cooperative, non-discriminatory, and respectful to diverse cultures. In working towards shared growth and a "Shanghai Spirit," the SCO not only helps the stability and security of Central Asia, but also contributes towards fair and reasonable international political-economic order. As a product of cooperation over security concerns in the Central Asia region, and through much effort by its member nations, the SCO has played a critical role in maintaining regional balance, stability, and security.Finally, the third section focuses on the opportunities and challenges facing the SCO after the 9.11 terrorist attacks. It discusses the problems facing the SCO's future growth and offers potential solutions. After the 9.11 terrorist attacks and the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Central Asian security and the regional powerhouses underwent a serious of ground shaking changes. The cooperation between the US and Russia in the war on terror benefits the anti-terrorism efforts in the region and enhances stability; yet the obvious difference between th...