The Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) is a permanent multifunctional regional organization established by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was officially signed by the leaders of these countries on June 15, 2001. Later, the “Declaration on the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization” was signed on the basis of the “Shanghai Five”
mechanism. Today, the SCO member countries
are Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China,
Tajikistan, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus have observer status, while Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cambodia, Nepal, Armenia and Sri Lanka are “dialogue partners”. The accession of India and Pakistan
to the SCO was an important milestone in the organization’s sixteen-year development. Some Chinese scholars believe that the expansion of the SCO is beneficial for the realization of the Chinese initiative [1].The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is not only a favorable stable environment, but also one of the main instruments for implementing China’s peripheral diplomacy
in Central Asia with the aim of joint and mutually beneficial development. The Treaty on Longterm Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation signed within the SCO in Bishkek in
August 2007 has created a solid legal basis for future multilateral cooperation.Materials and Methods
China emphasizes that the SCO neither
claims the status of a bloc, nor does it aim to create a military alliance or a collective security system. The SCO is not a military bloc or an economic union, but a regional multilateral cooperation organization in various fields to clearly realize the common interests of all member states. At the same time, it serves to stabilize the government, develop the economy, and improve the living standards of the population in accordance with the development aspirations of the member
states of the organization.