The Evaluations Of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Made By Chinese, Russian, American And European Scholars

The emergence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is one of the major events in the international political life of the beginning of the 21 century.During the past few years China and Russia,being the "twin-lead" of the Organization and promoting it to a completely new level have stood the test of the dramatic changes in the international state of affairs.At the same the two countries have also achieved certain results in the sphere of formation of the SCO's concept,its image-building,the construction of the Organization,external relations and so on and so forth.China and Russia have also made a profound impact on the geopolitical and geoeconomic situation in Eurasia and international system as a whole.This paper points out the similar,different and even diametrically opposing views formed under the influence of the differences in background knowledge and national interests of Chinese,Russian,European and American scholars on the functions,areas of cooperation,external and internal relations as well as the development projects of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.For instance,if most of the Western scholars analyze the Organization from the point of view of whether it possesses a threat to the US interests in Central Asia and mainly emphasize the SCO's internal contradictions and conflicts,especially the differences in national interests between Russia and China;the Russian and Chinese experts,on the contrary,discuss the present achievements of the Organization,existing shortcomings and difficulties caused by internal and external factors,and give their recommendations on how to overcome these difficulties in order to make the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization more smooth and successful.In overall,the views of Chinese and Russian experts on SCO and its prospects are more positive,they believe that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization being an open organization not directed against any party including the USA and NATO has made a significant contribution into the maintenance of peace and stability in Central Asia.But the evaluations of Shanghai Cooperation Organization by Western scholars,made according to whether the SCO poses a threat to the USA and the West in general,which can be divided into three categories—"threat theory","non-threat theory" and "the theory of uncertainty of possessing the threat"—are more negative in general.It is worth noting that the evaluations of Shanghai Cooperation Organization made by Chinese, Russian,American and European scholars are not static but they change with time.This paper stresses that there are many shortcomings in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,among which the core issue is the Sino-Russian relations in the framework of the Organization.Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership is still a very important prerequisite and guarantee of the SCO development.Whether the Sino-Russian relations are able to develop smoothly or not has a direct impact on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.Thus the key of SCO's further development is the ability to strengthen the coordination between China and Russia.