Military alliance like NATO and partners and Unions are two different tracks. Only in a regional union like EU you need close working relationships between nations, but in a military alliance like NATO a close relationship between political leadership is not required, only close military-to-military working relationship is sufficient. Anti-terrorism alliance like SCO requires even less working relationship, between political leadership and military.
I personally see these long term future possibilities. An SCO anti-terrorism alliance that may include these possible future unions or sub regions:
- North East Asian Union (China+Japan+Korea's+Mongolia)
- EaEU (Eurasian Economic Union, former Soviet countries, except for the ones that join EU/NATO)
- ASEAN+Bangladesh+Sri Lanka
- West Asian Union (Turkey+Iran+Pakistan+Afghanistan+Shia 3rd of Iraq+Kurdish part of Iraq)
The Unions will naturally happen if people find them advantageous, but most important I believe is the military alliance structure that provides collective security. Since China is emerging as the clear leader in Asia, it can lead the SCO anti-terrorism limited-scope alliance for now and include as many of above mentioned countries as possible. Then later if member nations find it necessary, the alliance can evolve into something similar to NATO.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the
three evils of
terrorism,
separatism and
extremism. The Head of RATS is elected to a three-year term. Each member state also sends a permanent representative to RATS.
[6]"