'It is a historic day': Pakistan becomes full member of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation at Astana

[Basel]

Actually it's a tactical victory for Pakistan against india. Now the US will think twice before attacking Pakistan but China or Pakistan doesn't have to think twice before attacking india for they are all members, it will be considered an internal quarrel. Good move!

SCO have to make sure that India and Pakistan don't go to war in any situation, and Russia and China can do that.

 

[Cash GK]

@Sinopakfriend

you two are paranoid. Modi is complimented for joining India into SCO. I don't think he thinks about Pakistan much.

we can see in europ how your country behav when it comes to Pakistan. wht kid of shit you smock

 

[Rank]

Xi Jinping Snubs Nawaz Sharif After 2 Chinese Teachers Killed In Pakistan

Xi Jinping's snub to Pakistan followed anger in China over the killing of two teachers in Balochistan.
Story Highlights

• 2 Chinese teachers were reportedly murdered by ISIS terrorists in Pak
• Nawaz Sharif, Xi Jinping were attending the SCO summit in Kazakhstan
• India, Pak were admitted as Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members

Beijing: In a rare snub to "all-weather ally" Pakistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped a customary meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakh capital Astana after the murder of two Chinese teachers in Balochistan.

Mr Sharif returned from Astana after attending the SCO summit on the sidelines of which he met Presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Russia.

Conspicuously absent was a meeting with Xi.


Chinese state-run media highlighted Xi s meetings with Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Xi's unprecedented snub followed deep disappointment and grief among Chinese public over the killing of the two Chinese citizens who were kidnapped last month from Quetta in Balochistan.

The two were brutally murdered reportedly by ISIS terrorists. The news of their murders was made public ahead of the SCO summit held on June 8-9 in which India and Pakistan were admitted as members.

Yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying explained that the murders were no way connected to the USD 50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which was opposed by the Baloch nationalists.

The CPEC is part of China's ambitious multi-billion Belt and Road intuitive (BRI).

"This incident will not have any necessary connection with the BRI," nor with the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, meeting being held in Astana, Hua had said.

China has deployed hundreds of Chinese workers to work for the CPEC which connects Gwadar port in Balochistan with China's Xinjiang through Azad Kashmir.

Hua said Pakistan pays great attention to the protection of Chinese citizens in the institutions there and made great efforts for their security.

"As per BRI we should be prepared for risks if want to go global. Since the three years after the BRI," she had said.

Stop your BS Indians.... Astana meetup day before Chinese Teacher killed story...

 

[POPEYE-Sailor]

Xi Jinping Snubs Nawaz Sharif After 2 Chinese Teachers Killed In Pakistan

Xi Jinping's snub to Pakistan followed anger in China over the killing of two teachers in Balochistan.
Story Highlights

• 2 Chinese teachers were reportedly murdered by ISIS terrorists in Pak
• Nawaz Sharif, Xi Jinping were attending the SCO summit in Kazakhstan
• India, Pak were admitted as Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members

Beijing: In a rare snub to "all-weather ally" Pakistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped a customary meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakh capital Astana after the murder of two Chinese teachers in Balochistan.

Mr Sharif returned from Astana after attending the SCO summit on the sidelines of which he met Presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Russia.

Conspicuously absent was a meeting with Xi.


Chinese state-run media highlighted Xi s meetings with Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Xi's unprecedented snub followed deep disappointment and grief among Chinese public over the killing of the two Chinese citizens who were kidnapped last month from Quetta in Balochistan.

The two were brutally murdered reportedly by ISIS terrorists. The news of their murders was made public ahead of the SCO summit held on June 8-9 in which India and Pakistan were admitted as members.

Yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying explained that the murders were no way connected to the USD 50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which was opposed by the Baloch nationalists.

The CPEC is part of China's ambitious multi-billion Belt and Road intuitive (BRI).

"This incident will not have any necessary connection with the BRI," nor with the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, meeting being held in Astana, Hua had said.

China has deployed hundreds of Chinese workers to work for the CPEC which connects Gwadar port in Balochistan with China's Xinjiang through Azad Kashmir.

Hua said Pakistan pays great attention to the protection of Chinese citizens in the institutions there and made great efforts for their security.

"As per BRI we should be prepared for risks if want to go global. Since the three years after the BRI," she had said.

Please focus on Foreign Rape in india. Pak-Sino fix all issue u dont need to worry..!!!

 

[Post Colonnial]

we can see in europ how your country behav when it comes to Pakistan. wht kid of shit you smock

That's called crime and punishment.

 

[Hassan Guy]

Wha!? India didn't skip the forum?

Has to be fake news

 

[Scarface..Lynch]

R.I.P SCO i fear rivalry of Pakistan and India will end the effectiveness of this block

 

[SBUS-CXK]

Where do you guys live in .China is not fighting for any one for that matter Russia or India too won't fight for others in the group.
The Chinese dd not try to defend their long time friend with who they had mutual defence agreement .you guys must be blind not to see the truth and believe in fantasies .oh by the way NK and where much closer to each other than what Pakistan and China are today.


SCO is not a grouping to resolve disputed its purely commercial .

NK?????
So sorry, in the eyes of the Chinese, it's a pronoun for traitors.

 

[POPEYE-Sailor]

Useless tea coffee organization.

If this organization is useless then Why Incredible India Accept Full Member ship of this organization ??

 

[Banglar Bir]

Internal differences stymie SCO’s effectiveness
P K Balachandran, June 12, 2017

At the conclusion of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held at Astana in Kazakhstan late last week, it was clear that the Eurasian body’s main concern will be to ensure the security of the Central Asian region against Islamic terrorism and externally-generated instability.

Attempts by China and Russia (two of its founder members) to give the SCO an economic dimension have not taken off and are not likely to take of anytime soon, because of the fragile security situation created by an upsurge of Islamic and ethno-centric terrorism in the neighborhood.

Therefore, it was only natural that the spotlight at the June 2017 summit was on combating extremism. The eight members of the SCO signed a convention on combating extremism and a declaration on jointly fighting international terrorism.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Islamic State (IS) terror outfit had set its sights on the Central Asian Republics (CAR) and southern Russia. Clandestine cells of IS combatants have been created and are operating in the SCO countries, Putin said, as he called for stronger intelligence cooperation among member countries.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the inclusion of India in the SCO this year, will give a fresh impetus to the fight against terrorism in the region. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, another new entrant, said that the SCO would help improve security in his country wracked by Islamic terrorism.

Interestingly, the SCO was founded in 1996 to ensure security on the borders between China, Russia and in the rest of Central Asia, comprising Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was on April 26, 1996, that the “Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions” was signed in Shanghai, China, by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. .

At the 2000 summit in Dushanbe (capital of Tajikistan), members agreed to oppose intervention in other countries’ internal affairs on the pretext of humanitarianism or protecting human rights. They pledged to support each other in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and social stability.

However, it has not been easy for the member countries to see eye to eye on security matters with national interests intervening.

Russia has had reservations and suspicions about China’s intentions. There is an underlying fear in Moscow that Beijing may be wanting to use its multi-billion dollar Silk Route Economic Belt (SREB) reconstruction initiative to oust Russia from its historically-derived pre-eminent position in Central Asia. After all, the Central Asian Republics, comprising Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, had been part of the Tsarist Empire and later, the Soviet Union.

China is against the Russian policy of including the Central Asian Republics in other bodies which it has created such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

Russia has made Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan a part of the EEU Customs Union. In addition, Russia has a huge military presence in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) which it has set up in 2003.

China, which is pledged to ensuring the protection of existing borders and considers this to be a main concern of the SCO, sees the heavy Russian military presence in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as “Russian power projection” rather than a legitimate border security ensuring measure.

The Central Asian Republics themselves are split between antagonistic international groups. While the SCO is non-West if not anti-West, some Central Asian Republics are part of NATO initiatives. Some of them are part of NATO’s “Partners for Peace” Project and have held military exercises with NATO.

As they mature as independent entities after breaking away from the USSR, the Central Asian Republics are developing personalities of their own with new nationalistic interests which go with self awareness.

In 2010, there were violent clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in which hundreds were killed. But SCO did not intervene to stop it on the grounds that the organization had not worked out a legal framework for such interventions. The SCO still does not have a legal framework for military intervention.

Meanwhile, Russia’s aggressive assertion of its interests in Crimea and Georgia has created apprehensions in the minds of the leaders of the Central Asian Republics. While China has never attacked another country (except India in 1962 to force the latter to negotiate on the border dispute),Russia had invaded Crimea and Georgia, both UN members, raising questions about its commitment to protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of SCO member states.

The inclusion of India and Pakistan as full members at the latest SCO summit, has added another troublesome dimension to the SCO. When the idea of giving full membership to India was mooted, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had raised the issue of India and Pakistan being in perpetual conflict over territory. He feared that this conflict would vitiate the atmosphere in the SCO, even though the organization enjoins members to eschew contentious bilateral issues. Chinese President Xi Jinping has explicitly appealed to India and Pakistan to settle their disputes peacefully for the sake of the region’s economic development.

However, it is well known that organizations which have a stipulation against raising bilateral disputes have not succeeded in keeping such issues out. SAARC is a good example of an organization which has this rule but is nevertheless badly affected, if not ruined, by bilateral issues between India and Pakistan, and now, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The SCO countries have not evolved a common and consistent policy on pressing world issues. Though the collective official line is that the SCO should not express its opinion on contentious international issues, it expressed its opposition to giving India a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. One member supported Japan’s case to have a permanent seat in the council drawing flak from the SCO Secretary General who said that SCO should not take sides in these matters.

On the economic plane, progress has been nil. Plans and wishes are there but there has been no action because of mutual suspicions, lack of a mechanism to implement existing plans, and the deteriorating regional security situation.

China is very keen on reviving the ancient Silk Route connecting China and Europe by land. It has plans for highways and rail lines and has the money to pump in. Russia too is interested in connecting the North with the South to give it access to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. India is interested in the Russian project as it would connect Mumbai with Central Asia through the Chabahar port in Iran. The Central Asian Republics, being landlocked, are seeking an outlet to the sea and al round connectivity to emerge from isolation.

But very little is happening on the ground to implement the grandiose schemes because of the worsening security situation. The future of Afghanistan is uncertain after the US announced a pull out of its troops. The Taliban is as violent and intractable as ever in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iran and the Arab world are on the verge of war. India and Pakistan face each other eye ball to eye ball. China is vexed with India for not joining its One Belt One Road project on grounds of sovereignty over parts of Kashmir, and India is vexed with China for not supporting it on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, and its bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers’ Club.

But still, the SCO is useful as it provides a forum for leaders of the member countries to meet regularly and talk things over on the sidelines of the summit. At the Astana summit this month, for example, India and Pakistan showed faint signs of a détente when Modi and Sharif shook hands warmly with a smile on their faces. Likewise, Chinese President Xi and Modi broke the ice when Xi said that he enjoyed the Bollywood blockbuster Dangal and announced a program for promoting yoga, and Modi said that it was heartening that in the last 30 years, not a bullet had been fired on the India-China border despite the existence of a boundary dispute. It is hoped that the breaking of ice would lead to substantive changes for the better on the ground.

http://southasianmonitor.com/2017/06/12/internal-differences-stymie-scos-effectiveness/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Was SCO Summit a Disaster for India?
India's policies of using Afghan-based terrorism against Pakistan, attempting to "isolate" Islamabad from the Afghan peace process, and declining to participate in China's One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity were all implicitly called into question by none other than President Putin himself.

By Andrew Korybko -
June 12, 2017
Far from being the astounding success that India’s jingoistic media is portraying it as, last week’s SCO Summit in Astana was a resounding disaster for Prime Minister Modi’s plans. India’s policies of using Afghan-based terrorism against Pakistan, attempting to “isolate” Islamabad from the Afghan peace process, and declining to participate in China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity were all implicitly called into question by none other than President Putin himself.

The Kremlin website has a transcript of the Russian leader’s speech to the SCO and a brief meeting that he held with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, both of which should be read by anyone who wants to find out exactly how Putin spoiled Modi’s above-mentioned plans.

Firstly, Putin’s bilateral meeting with Sharif saw him declare that “Pakistan is an important partner for Russia in South Asia”, something which would have been unthinkable to even countenance only a few years ago before the fast-moving Russian-Pakistani rapprochement began. It’s evidently been so successful that it inspired Putin’s profound statement, and not only that, but the promising trajectory of their mutual relations even prompted him to hint that the two sides should now focus on expanding their economic relations as well. Without directly saying it, it’s strongly implied that Putin was referencing CPEC and Russia’s utilization of the route in one capacity or another, and the reason for this conclusion is because of what will he revealed earlier that day during his keynote speech to all of the SCO’s national leaders.

In no uncertain terms, Putin said that “Our goal is to combine the potentials of the EAEU, the SCO, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and China’s One Belt, One Road Initiative”, which can be interpreted as him marshaling all of the attendees in support of Beijing’s world-changing geo-economic quest for developing the emerging Multi polar World Order. Given that CPEC is OBOR’s flagship project, this can rightly be interpreted as Russia calling on all SCO members — including India — to accept and participate in this endeavor. It should therefore go without saying that Russia supports CPEC and wants India to as well.
Modi was therefore thrown into a dilemma from which he might never recover — the Hindutva figurehead must find a way to balance Putin’s request that India moderate its hitherto unwavering resistance to OBOR while satisfying his “deep state” handlers’ demands that his country isolate itself from this worldwide connectivity network. Putin, being the masterful strategist-politician that he is, knew exactly what he was doing by telling Modi to his face that that the organization his country just joined must integrate with OBOR, and the reason for saying so — let alone in such a public fashion — is because Russia is giving India its last chance to behave as a responsible Eurasian actor.

The Russian-Indian Strategic Partnership goes back decades, but it’s noticeably lost its famous luster ever since the dissolution of the USSR. Both sides understand that the other has pretty much gone their separate ways in the Geostrategic sense, with Russia entering into an historically unprecedented partnership with China over the past couple of years and India doing the same with the US during this time as well. Russia hasn’t publicly complained about India’s new military-strategic partnership with the US (LEMOA), but the fact that Putin said that the SCO will integrate with OBOR indicates that Modi’s resistance to this initiative is a red line for Russia, one which was all but directly decreed in the most public way possible.

If India takes Russia’s guidance to heart and re calibrate its position on this issue, then it could give Eurasian integration the impetus that it needs to qualitatively and quickly change the existing global state of affairs. Moreover, India’s participation in OBOR and full integration with the initiative would naturally lead to the transformation of its foreign policy as well, since India would no longer be waging the Hybrid War on CPEC but would instead be working hand-in-hand with China and Pakistan at the highest and most strategic levels.
As even the most casual observer of regional affairs knows, however, this is overly optimistic and probably won’t happen, and a large part of it has to do with the Indian “deep state’s” outright geopolitical hate for its two Great Power neighbors.

While astute analysts were well aware of the BJP-RSS’ position towards Pakistan and China prior to Modi’s election, there was hope for a brief moment shortly thereafter that India’s new leader would break from his base’s populist expectations and pioneer a completely new era of relations with those two states. After all, it’s for this reason why the SCO Modi’s resistance to this initiative is a red line for Russia, one which was all but directly decreed in the most public way possible.

If India takes Russia’s guidance to heart and recalibrate its position on this issue, then it could give Eurasian integration the impetus that it needs to qualitatively and quickly change the existing global state of affairs. Moreover, India’s participation in OBOR and full integration with the initiative would naturally lead to the transformation of its foreign policy as well, since India would no longer be waging the Hybrid War on CPEC but would instead be working hand-in-hand with China and Pakistan at the highest and most strategic levels. invited both India and Pakistan to join a year later.

Regrettably, though unsurprisingly, Modi’s initial pretenses of regional pragmatism were proven to have been a major ruse to trick Russia into agreeing to India’s admission to the bloc, after which New Delhi could do what it really wanted while knowing that it would be politically impossible for Moscow to reverse its decision after the fact. Truth be told, Russia still harbors high (though potentially misplaced) hopes that India can function as the responsible actor that it’s supposed to be in the SCO and all Eurasian integration processes in general (such as OBOR), but it’s increasingly coming to realize that this might not ever happen so long as Modi’s BJP-RSS is running the show.

This brings the analysis to the point of discussing India’s Hybrid War on CPEC and New Delhi’s use of terrorism in promoting its regionally obstructive agenda. The Times Of Islamabad just published a detailed report about “How NDS-RAW created ISIS-Khorsan to counter Pakistan, Afghan Taliban”, and it’s strongly recommended that the reader review this important article.

In the same vein, one shouldn’t forget that Indian operative Kalbhushan Jadav was caught in Pakistani Baluchistan and admitted to cultivating a terrorist network in the province, nor should anyone overlook the fact that India’s handful of consulates in eastern Afghanistan essentially function as Hybrid War outposts for carrying out this task and supporting Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).

With this in mind, Putin’s words about terrorism ring louder than ever. He said that “The fight against terrorism should be system-wide and uncompromised”, after which he remarked that “the role of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure takes on added significance.”

Moreover, the Russian President’s focus on terrorism was mostly directed towards threats emanating from Afghanistan, which means that Indian destabilization efforts there against Pakistan and New Delhi’s patronage of ISKP could soon come into the organization’s cross hairs if Modi doesn’t order his National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to abandon these Hybrid War campaigns.

Relatedly, with Afghanistan occupying the SCO’s — and especially Russia’s — attention, Putin proposed the resumption of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group which had been suspended since 2009. With Pakistan now an official member of the SCO, this means that it’s an inseparable part in all organizational efforts from here on out in reaching a political solution in Afghanistan, which perfectly aligns with the incipient Moscow peace process. India is now unable to “isolate” Pakistan no matter how hard it tries because the SCO recognizes Islamabad’s indispensable role in Afghanistan and is counting on it to help the organization make progress in the war-torn country. Obviously, this also means that the SCO is not opposed to the Taliban being formally recognized as the key political actors that they are, much to India’s ultimate chagrin.

Reassessing everything that Putin said during the SCO Summit, both during his one-on-one meeting with Sharif and to all of the attendees during his keynote speech, there’s no question that the Russian President threw down the gauntlet to Modi and that Moscow is giving New Delhi its last chance to behave as a responsible multi polar Great Power or risk being isolated in the same organization which it just joined. If India continues utilizing Afghan-based terrorists against Pakistan, opposing Islamabad’s sensible suggestions to include the Taliban in the new Moscow-based Afghan peace process, and standing in the way of China’s OBOR, then it won’t have a functional place in the SCO and will be relegated by all of its members to the periphery of the bloc’s decision-making process. However, if India takes Russia’s hints and changes its stance on these three key issues of importance, then there’s hope that the SCO will fulfill its destiny in becoming the irreplaceable force for constructing the emerging Multi polar World Order.

Again, it can’t be stated enough just how overly optimistic it is at this point for anyone to seriously believe that Modi will change his ways after having gone so radically far on each of the three examined positions, so it must be seriously considered that Putin was actually warning his Indian counterpart that this is his last chance at redemption. India’s failure to heed Russia’s implied advice will lead to the full-on aggravation of the Chinese-Indian Cold War, something which Russia is sparing no effort to avoid. Even in the event that India spoils the SCO by continuing its hostile policies towards fellow members Pakistan and China, Russian-Indian relations probably won’t be harmed too much, as they’re mostly trans actional nowadays than anything else.

Granted, there is certainly a high-level and strategic component to their economic, energy, and military relations as manifested in the North-South Transport Corridor, nuclear deals, and state-of-the-art arms sales, but they’re still trans actional nonetheless and haven’t translated into political coordination on the international front. After all, Russia and India are on opposite sides now as it relates to Pakistan, the Afghan peace process, and OBOR, and New Delhi has been systematically seeking to lessen (and some would cynically argue, replace) Moscow’s role in the aforementioned three spheres of cooperation by rapidly enhancing its ties with Russia’s American, Japanese, and Israeli competitors.

Russia seems to have finally realized the Chanakya-inspired game that India is playing, however, which is why Putin effectively called Modi out in the most diplomatic way possible at the SCO Summit, and this ultimately proves that both sides have finally said bye-bye to the slogan of “Rusi-Hindi Bhai Bhai”.

http://regionalrapport.com/

 

[Mangus Ortus Novem]

@BANGLAR BIR , my BD friend, thank you for your great contribution with this article.

It has come to my attention that you have been posting quality articles in relevant sections. This does help bring substance to discussions. Job well done. Please, do keep up the good work!



Regarding, Mr. A. Korybko he is rather intelligent and sharp analyst. I would not be surprised that he does visit our good PDF. Hello, Mr. Korybko!
http://regionalrapport.com/author/andrewregionalrapport-com/
My reading of his works tends to lead me to believe that he speaks on behalf of Russian Foreign Policy Establishment. Russian diplamcy preferes subtlty and nuance, unlike our American friends.

What he is saying is that CPEC has the full backing of the Sino-Russian Axis and that Pak is a critical component of the Grand Eurasian Master Plan.

I am indeed delighted that Pak has been acting with great caution in ME and focusing its energies towards West and North West, a nutaral and logical place for Pak to be.

The indians have joined the Anglo-American Axis with full gusto.

And there is no turning back for them. Seen from their perspective this alliance offers them more jobs, tech, perstige and getting out of the Red Dragon's Shadow. So, far a decade or more we can expect the indian establishment to remain on this course.

This indian strategy will make them to bring 15.000+ troops to the hellhole of AF... which is counter to Sino-Rus-Pak Peace Plan. Hence, the warning from Mr. Putin must be seen in this light. However, indians will now have to do what they are asked to do by the US.

Mr. Modi tried to use Baloch card, which was a direct threat to the very existence of Pak Nation State. He overestimated his power, regardless, this didn't go very well with the Planners of Grand Eaurasian Integeration.

There will be indian terrorism in Pak and I fear that the Chinese nationals will be targeted. Both China and Pak are aware of it.

Neither China nor Russia would allow indians to use SCO as punching bag to malign Pak. In a way by joining SCO, in its current policy formation, the indian establishment has successfully managed to isolate india in the Strategic Heart of Asia.

When Iran and down the road Turkey join SCO... indian position will be furthered reduced.


However, in this entire process Russia will remain milking the indian cow as much as it can, knowing full well that indian deep state is trying its level best to get out of the Russian stranglehold.


Regards,

SPF

 

[Cash GK]

That's called crime and punishment.

COW SHIT- MY GOD IT EFFECT SO BAD. REASON WHY INDIAN ASSES GOT BURN EVERY DAY HAHHA

 

[Banglar Bir]

Can Pakistan benefit from the SCO?
June 12, 2017

Wali Zahid
Pakistan has been admitted into Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a Full Member at the SCO Astana Summit in Kazakhstan. SCO leaders have hailed the event as carrying ‘historic significance’.

So, what does SCO membership mean for Pakistan? How significant it truly is? And will Pakistan be able to benefit from SCO membership?

First, the upside.

SCO membership is significant for four reasons:

One, relationship with China is strengthened. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is already included in China’s Belt and Road Initiative as a flagship project. Now, we are accepted in the Shanghai club which is China-led.

Two, the membership upgrade from Observer to Full Member is a message to the world that attempts to isolate Pakistan diplomatically will not bear fruit. And that Pakistan is siding with the right powers at this critical juncture and is on the right side of history. If we combine the SCO membership with Pakistan’s inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index a week ago on 1 June, this is also an economic success and that we are getting back on economic track.

Three, it is an opportunity for Pakistan to increase trade volumes and economic ties with Eurasian countries which didn’t quite show up on Pakistan’s radar earlier.

Four, it allows Pakistan to sort out bilateral issues with neighbouring India, which also became the Full Member in Astana Summit, under Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, which is second most important document after SCO Charter.

For China, this had been the most desirable outcome and China had conveyed this even before the Summit. Speaking at a briefing in Beijing on 1 June, spokesperson of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hua Chunying had said China hoped Pakistan and India would improve bilateral relations after becoming the full members of SCO. “We hope that Pakistan and India will inject new impetus to the development of SCO.”

Now, the downside.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could not have one-on-one meeting with his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi in spite of increasing tensions between the two countries. The exchange remained limited to a customary hi.

Only a day after the membership upgrade, tensions mounted on the Line of Control (LoC) with India and Pakistan army chief visiting troops after the reported LoC violations.

This is clearly a message that new economic possibilities and realities will not be able to heal old wounds so quickly. Perhaps this is what Chinese President Xi Jinping had referred to in his opening address: “Recent acts of terrorism in this region show that the fight against three forces (of terrorism, separatism and extremism) remains a long and arduous task.”

Similarly, the kidnapping and reported killing of two Chinese teachers from Quetta caused PM Sharif embarrassment in facing the Chinese President Xi Jinping during the customary farewell meeting.

So, to the question ‘Will Pakistan be able to benefit from SCO membership?’ the jury is still out.

However, two other achievements from the Astana Summit are noteworthy.

One, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s one-on-one meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of the SCO Summit. This is significant because Kabul had recently been hit by one of the worst suicide attacks killing 150 people with Ghani tweeting that ‘Pakistan continues to host terrorist sanctuaries’ and that it ‘still believes that sponsoring terror is a controllable tool that can be switched on and off as part of the means to achieve goals.’ What emerged from the meeting that both Pakistani and Afghan leaders agreed to ‘intensify joint efforts to fight terrorism in all of its forms that threaten the security and stability of the two countries and use Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) mechanism as well as bilateral meetings to agree on specific actions, and monitor the actions taken against such terrorist groups.’

Kabul and Islamabad also ‘agreed to assign working teams to put together plans to intensify measures to eliminate terrorist networks in their respective territories. The first meeting will be hosted in Kabul followed by Islamabad.’ The QCG includes China, US, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Two, PM Sharif’s one-on-one meeting with Russian President Putin. In the Riyadh Summit last month, media reports suggested that US President Donald Trump skipped mentioning Pakistan and PM Sharif causing him embarrassment at home. In this backdrop, Sharif meeting with Putin and discussing bilateral ties was a welcome relief.

In response to Sharif’s warm-up “we want a multidimensional relationship with Russia in the fields of trade, defence, energy, infrastructure, culture and other spheres,” Putin assured Sharif that Russia would extend cooperation in every field especially Islamabad’s war against terrorism.

So, what can the world expect from SCO?

Under President Trump, the US is slowly and gradually leaving the world leadership. Only recently US abandoned the Paris Climate Agreement. It earlier withdrew from TPP (Trans-Pacific Pact).

China’s visionary leader Xi Jinping is strategically filling these gaps. SCO is now an eight-member body, two of which are permanent members of UN Security Council and four are nuclear powers. In term of population served, it’s the world’s largest club.

I tend to think that SCO and China are the new leaders of the emerging world, connecting and impacting people and leaders in Asia-Pacific, East Asia, South Asia, West Asia and Eurasia regions.

After the Astana summit, China took over the rotating chair of the SCO. It will host the next SCO summit in June 2018 in China.

An important SCO pillar is increasing people-to-people bonds, youth in particular. Since China spent the last century as a self-contained country, China is now opening up to the world for a two-way understanding.

Xi proposed media cooperation among the SCO member states, saying China would host the first SCO media summit.

Hinting at a long haul, Xi said China will ensure the success of the SCO University, the youth exchange camp and the summer camp for elementary and middle-school students. China will host SCO activities like cultural and art festival, women’s forum and skills contest of workers, and strive for progress of SCO cooperation in health, disaster relief, environment protection, sports and tourism.

China will launch a ‘China-SCO cooperation program in human resources development’, under which China will invite representatives from SCO states to seminars and workshops in China, send Chinese experts to SCO states to give policy advice, carry out local training programs in SCO states and provide government scholarships.

The above indicates that it’s not mere security, terrorism or trade that SCO (and China) is planning to achieve, it perhaps has a 50-year plan to influence the next two generations and unite them under China’s leadership.
http://nation.com.pk/columns/12-Jun-2017/can-pakistan-benefit-from-the-sco

 

[!eon]

Because of hard efforts from Modi, Pakistan got more isolated.