Editorial: India And SCO: Need For Caution

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By: B. Raman

India, like Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, is presently an observer of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), which has completed 10 years. Like Pakistan and Iran, it has sought full membership of an organisation over which China is seeking to establish its hegemony. The request for full membership was reiterated by Shri S. M. Krishna, our Minister For External Affairs, during his visit to Beijing earlier this week to represent India in the SCO summit held on June 6 and 7, 2012.

While carefully orchestrating the further evolution of the organisation in a direction that would facilitate the pursuit of Chinese interests in Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics—particularly a greater role for China in the economic reconstruction and security modernisation of Afghanistan after the thinning-out of the US-led NATO presence post-2014—China has sought to maintain a certain lack of transparency regarding the security dimensions of the SCO.

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