SCO expands with new member Belarus

New Delhi, July 4: The SCO Summit on Thursday welcomed Belarus as its 10th member. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and other summit hosts congratulated Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on this milestone.

This development marks Belarus, a key ally of Russia during its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, joining the organisation. Just last year, Iran was admitted as a full member of the SCO.

During the summit, media reported leaders underscored the SCO's pivotal role in international relations and deliberated on new initiatives, including a youth digital forum. Under Kazakhstan's presidency, the organisation facilitated 150 events and secured 60 new agreements, underscoring its expanding partnerships and economic cooperation strategies.

The summit, which commenced on Wednesday, saw the attendance of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, marking their second meeting of the year. Both leaders lauded the SCO as a stabilising force in global affairs, presenting it as a counterbalance to Western influence.

Founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to combat terrorism and enhance border security, the SCO has significantly expanded. It now includes India, Iran, Pakistan, and Belarus, encompassing over 40% of the world's population and around a quarter of the global economy. The organisation also has two observer states, Afghanistan and Mongolia, and over a dozen “dialogue partners,” including Myanmar, Turkey, and various Arab states.

The inclusion of Belarus, which borders the European Union, worries the Western world. With Russia in its third year of conflict with Ukraine, the SCO has become a critical diplomatic avenue for Russia, bolstered by China's support, providing Putin with an alternative to Western isolation and sanctions.

The United States and several Western nations view the SCO as an anti-Western alliance. Despite these tensions, India, which has its frictions with Pakistan and China, was represented by its Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Last year, India hosted the summit virtually, a move analysts suggest allowed Modi to avoid the optics of welcoming Putin and Xi to New Delhi and continue to maintain its third-pole leadership.

Next year, China will chair the SCO, an event that will be closely watched, especially given Modi's two-year avoidance of direct participation. Political observers speculate on the implications this might have for India's diplomatic strategies within the organisation even though India is an important constituent of the SCO.