Unfortunately, China may have the veto...but so does every country including Russia....
Russia may have provided its backing to Pakistan for membership of the SCO, but I would be surprised if they did so without the conditional entry of India in the bloc...
I wouldnt give China more importance than the other nations in the bloc..
Could be because Pakistan has realized that its impending economic problems will not be mitigated by the west backing it up anymore, especially given their poor stretch of relations with US and the leverage they hold in IMF....Pakistan has also failed to secure a deal with the EU to help recover its economy.
My hunch is that this is China's way of preventing alienation of Pak....just as the US grandfathered the clearance of the Indo-US deal, China may have lobbied for this with Russia based on conditional entry of India...Contrary to the view of people (Chinese and Pakistanis) on this forum, Russians are not doing this out of love for Pakistan...
SCO guarantees energy security for Pak through the energy rich CARs and economic co-operation and trade through the CARs again....
Do remember that Russian influence is essential for Pak to be able to maintain unhindered trade relations with CARs countries...
You cant just throw out random statements without proof....either its your assumption or that you know of Russian "interests" in Pak that we dont know of...either way, it would be great if you could share some of those with us...
Also...I am extremely confident of the Indo-Russian relationship and can guarantee that India on any day is a more important strategic and economic partner than Pakistan can ever be (given that we have 60 years over them)....
If Pakistan has the potential to overturn Indo Russian relationship in their favor, then hats off to them.....I personally dont see it and in my opinion the overestimation of potential comes from you wrt. Pakistan
1, no one knows the attitude of Russia, but the bottom line is that if India did not want to take responsibility, you will not be eligible to join the SCO, all Member States are in this position. Also, you need to know any of the SCO Member States have a veto, if a member of Pakistan, then India will be more difficult to join, even if you do not need to care about China to agree or disagree. This is one of the reasons India hasty action.
2, no matter how you think, China is the core of the same importance as Russia, Russia can not fight alone with NATO, or the price is high, China too, but if China and Russia cooperate will be able to provide adequate protection. And China can provide more than the Russian in economy and trade, no one can provide so many things in the SCO.
3, Yes, as you said, it is possible, there is a condition on India to join, in theory, a possibility. But not like, my personal view. Look, it seems that Russia has agreed to join Pakistan, except for some conditions for their own interests and no other conditions, such as India to join. of course, right or wrong, only time will tell.
4, this is BBS discussion, no one can get classified documents from the national leaders, all is subjective opinion, me too. We have discussed many times, at least in theory, Pakistan can provide important benefits to Russia. Mainly , regional security, to ensure that Russia's backyard influence, trade and energy channels, the integration of economic cooperation in Central Asia. All is enough and important.
5, of course, as long as India do not mind Russia close to Pakistan, I think Russia will be very happy to maintain relations and India. Of course, the better, long live the friendship between Russia and India. I congratulate you, as long as India does not mind some minor problems .
