BIGGER THAN THE US; BIGGER THAN THE EU
The emerging Eurasian bloc headed by China and Russia will be the world's major economic grouping - and soon! The SCO already includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan as full members, and observer states India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan may be promoted to full membership at the next meeting in Russia. In terms of population, resources and manufacturing capacity, the SCO is now the world's largest economic entity.
The implications of the emergence of the SCO have scarcely been discussed in the European; US or Australian media. Nations near the new group have shown more interest. ASEAN will attend the next meeting as guests, as will the US, who will doubtless be lobbying the Russians to block the admission of Iran. Australia has expressed no desire to attend, despite the fact that founding member China is our largest trading partner.
So far, the main agreement of the present SCO is to allow trade between member states in their own currencies. This move is intended to avoid the necessity of holding national reserves of $US, the long-standing international reserve currency. The Chinese hold vast $US reserves, and they have expressed concerns about its future stability and value. An extension of the agreement to trade in national currencies would be an exchange rate fixing mechanism, which would be equivalent to having an internal basket-of-currencies as a trade medium - a de facto SCO common currency, an Asian euro.
Concerns about the future of the US$ are rife. If the collapse anticipated by many occurs, the world will need the size, wealth and dynamism of the SCO to help rebuild the world economy.
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“The past few years have seen investments into the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan, the Gwadar port [in Karachi], [and] a multibillion-dollar pipeline from Kazakhstan to Xinjiang [Uyghur Autonomous Region]. China has signed a $100 billion, 25-year energy contract with Iran. And so on and so on,” Norling continues. “So, of course, this forms part of a greater strategy.”
The successful holding of the 10th Tashkent summit shows that the SCO has increase its openness and confidence to meet all challenges and, through the way for its member states to enhance their mutual political confidence, the SCO is sure to boost security cooperation to safeguard regional stability and actively partake in the settlement of the Afghanistan issue and steadily carry out regional economic cooperation. As a result, the SCO would play a more active and substantial role on the world arena and show even better prospects for its development.
People's Daily - Sun Zhuangzhi, Secretary General of the Shanghai SCO Research Center
"Afghanistan is our neighbor and friend. That is why we always pay great attention to the difficult issues related to Afghanistan. We support international efforts to bring peace and security in Afghanistan, the reconstruction of the socio-economic infrastructure," he said.
Berdimuhammedov noted that Turkmenistan will continue to assist the Afghan people, primarily in the humanitarian sphere, in the construction of social infrastructure, supplies of electricity and fuel. It is a concrete contribution to the economic development of Afghanistan.
SCO foreign ministers to meet in Tashkent May 22
By Yekaterina Brovkina
2010-05-21
TASHKENT -- Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member-states' foreign ministers will discuss administrative and global issues May 22 in Tashkent, a Russian Foreign Ministry press release said.
The diplomats plan to discuss the June summit of SCO heads of state (to take place in Tashkent too), the global financial crisis, international financial reforms, regulation of weapons of mass destruction, expansion of co-operation against drugs and terrorism, international help for Afghanistan, and the Kyrgyz situation.
Relevance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to Sri Lanka Emphasized
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Asian Tribune
MINSK, 28 April (BelTA) – The memorandum on providing the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) dialogue partner status to Belarus was signed in Minsk on 28 April, BelTA has learnt.
The document has been signed by Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov and Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Muratbek Imanaliev.
Delhi lost much time quibbling over the "good" and "bad" Taliban while the international community and regional players moved on. There was initially some uneasiness that the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai was seeking reconciliation with the insurgent groups.
But more worrisome for Delhi is the fact Karzai has begun seeking help from Pakistan. The fault lies entirely with the Indians in having failed to support him in recent months. Delhi backed losing candidate Abdullah Abdullah in last year's presidential elections on the facile assumption that Washington wished to see him in power. That was a disastrous error of judgment.
M K Bhadrakumar (Asia Times)
The meeting was inaugurated in China's southern province of Hainan earlier on Saturday in the presence of culture ministers from 10 countries, including the six SCO Member States; China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and the four Observer States; Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia.
The summit is being held with the aim of boosting trade and cultural cooperation, plus facilitating cultural exchanges among the participants in preparation of expansion of ties in other fields.
While China has no troops in Afghanistan — where Karzai relies on U.S. and NATO forces to prop up his weak government against the Taliban — its proximity and booming economy make it a valuable partner for the war-battered country.
China is already a major source of consumer goods for the country and while two-way trade totaled just $155 million in 2008, according to Chinese figures, it appears to be growing quickly.
In the joint statement, China pledged to continue assistance to Afghanistan and encourage Chinese companies to take part in construction and development projects in the country.
It said the sides agreed to expand trade, investment, economic cooperation, and technology transfer, focusing on transportation, basic infrastructure, agriculture, irrigation, and mining.
Washington's major concern is to prevent the Taliban and al-Qaida from launching attacks on US soil and its overseas facilities and personnel. But China, as Afghanistan's neighbor, also needs to tackle non-traditional security threats such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling and other cross-border crimes. Besides, the insistence of the US and its allies to continue their military strikes against the Taliban and consolidation of their military presence in Central and South Asia have put extra pressure on China's defense and security plans.
The second difference is over economic input. The US has a huge number of troops in Afghanistan that provide security for its assistance projects. America gets priority in project selection because it offers "protection" to the Hamid Karzai government. And its economic input is aimed at paying for its military operations. In contrast, Chinese enterprises face great risk while working for Afghanistan's reconstruction and encounter fierce international competition in getting a contract. And unlike the US, Chinese investments are mainly in roads, hospitals and schools, and come without any riders.
The third difference is in the choice of government. The US insists on establishing a Western-style "democratic" regime and has been trying to force its political model on the backward country, which resulted in the chaos in last year's presidential polls. On the other hand, China believes the Afghans (of all ethnic groups and political parties) should decide on what form of government they want based on their culture, tradition and domestic conditions.
And the fourth difference is over geopolitical objectives. The US has an offensive counterterrorism strategy, in which Afghanistan is being used as a pawn to help it maintain its global dominance and contain its competitors. China, on the contrary, pursues a defensive national defense policy and wants to have good relations as neighbors of Afghanistan.
