It has been four years since the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). As a regional cooperation mechanism initiated by China, the SCO has been in the spotlight on the Eurasian and world stage primarily because it has heralded a fresh mode of cooperation that is anchored in state-to-state relations. 

During the Shanghai Five phase, the embryonic stage of the SCO that grouped China with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the alliance was propelled by shared interests, and broke through differences in state systems, ideologies and cultural traditions to strive for the goal of bringing to an end frontier confrontations that are a remnant of the Cold War.

In 1996 and 1997, the five nations signed the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions and the Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions. This not only resolved hangovers from the Cold War and constructed a healthy framework for pursuing common interests, but also provided a platform for summits where active discussions on an equal basis were staged with the goal of resolving crucial regional issues.

With globalization and regional development, the Shanghai Five mechanism started to shift its focus at the end of the 20th century to tackle unconventional security problems that were threatening the stability in member states.

When the SCO was founded in 2001, the first document signed was the Shanghai Convention Against Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism. The SCO's principal task remains preserving regional security.

In recent years the "three forces" have developed in Central Asia. In June, the secretariat meeting of the State Security Council for SCO member states further discussed concrete measures for strengthening security cooperation.

The Astana summit endorsed a document called the Concept of Cooperation in the Fight Against Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism, which will raise efficiency and herald more accurate targeting and systematic mechanisms to activities within the SCO framework.

Through mutually beneficial efforts, the SCO is creating a positive economic and trade environment. The outline for multilateral trade cooperation, passed in 2003, based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit, market economy, mutual access to market and a combination of bilateral and multilateral approaches and emphasized the advantages of complementary economies and resource distribution among member states to promote joint development.

To achieve the goals drawn up in the outline, the SCO established taskforces to tackle sticking points related to customs and international transport, resulting in 120 tangible programs.

As the organization is still in its infancy and its core mechanisms have not yet matured, many coordination institutions, regulations and systems have room for improvement, especially in the area of economic cooperation. Certainly differences in economic interests call for coordination by a special agency.

The latest SCO summit, the fifth of its kind, had another important mission. Governments of member states must make further efforts to put into effect a series of concrete programs for regional cooperation and create conditions necessary for economic growth.

On the back of the summit's resolutions, an SCO committee for businessmen is being set up so that resources can be integrated to promote regional growth.

At the same time, the meeting also gave its support to the SCO Secretariat's proposal to speed up the creation of an SCO fund, coordinated banking and provision of support for cooperation in the financial sector at large.

This year's summit was held against a backdrop of regional politics in flux, and playing a starring role on the international stage. With war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the West, and the United States in particular, has been mapping out an integrated framework for world security and launching "color revolutions" and offensives aiming at "democracy reforms" and "eradicating dictatorship" in the former Soviet bloc and greater Middle East.

Kyrgyzstan, an SCO member state, could not escape this wave of "revolution" and went through unusual regime change. Kazakhstan, encouraged by events in neighboring nations, is importing the idea of the "color revolution" and Uzbek extremists have provoked political instability. These developments pose a serious threat to the healthy growth of the SCO.

With hegemony in the world, the old rules for international relations no longer apply, and there are calls for a new political and economic order. SCO member states, in development or in transition, urgently need an international environment that is flexible and fair.

The Charter for the SCO, which the six member states adopted in 2002, clearly identified "democracy, justice and rationality" as the new international political and economic order.

"Mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, cooperation, respect for diversified civilizations and common development" are the basic tenets followed by the SCO as the Charter says, and they are also the ethics for democracy in international politics which apply to every nation regardless of its size, wealth and power.

The growth of the SCO will galvanize its member states to work together for common good in the spirit of sharing risk and taking responsibility.

At the early June meeting of the SCO Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, accepting India, Pakistan and Iran as observer members was debated. Mongolia was approved to take up this role last year.

No matter how many changes member states undergo in regime or leadership, it has become a principal objective for all concerned to participate in the SCO's security and economic cooperation.

Nations in Central Asia need a stable and harmonious environment in order to complete the transfer after their independence. Establishing new regional politics and a new economic order has become the foundation upon which change can take place smoothly.

(China Daily July 8, 2005)