Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the midst of trip to China and India, is seeking to bolster multilateral organizations in Central Asia to help balance the growing influence of Western nations, especially the United States, in the region. In particular, Putin is touting the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a viable vehicle to promote regional security.
Putin arrived in India on December 3 following a three-day visit to China. He is due December 5 in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, where he will discuss the parameters of the newly-announced Russian air base in the country. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives]. Putin will also use the visit to continue promoting the SCO as a regional security option.
So far during his Asian tour, Putin has vigorously promoted the SCO. The organization's "role is growing, notably in forging multilateral regional ties and in the war on terror," Putin said on December 2 through the Kremlin's press service. He praised the SCO as an "open organization" and mused that India's participation could raise the SCO's significance.
The United States and Russia are ostensibly allies in the anti-terrorism campaign, but beneath the polite rhetoric that was on display during Putin's November 22 summit with US President George W. Bush, there lies tension in the Moscow-Washington relationship. Among the sources of tension is the Iraq issue. On November 23, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told reporters after the SCO meeting that "simply settling the problem of Iraq" would not free the world from the problem of terrorism. This echoed a warning that Putin issued to Bush on the previous day.
Russia is also uncomfortable with the sudden rise of the US geopolitical profile in Central Asia following the September 11 terrorist attacks. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archives]. Putin's promotion of the SCO during the Asian tour is a reflection of his desire to strengthen ties with major Asian partners. The SCO includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In Beijing, Putin and Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin proclaimed their intent to "push forward, expand, reinforce and deepen the two countries' strategic cooperative partnership with new substance" and without tailoring strategies for "any third country."
In New Delhi on December 4, Putin and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee issued a joint statement pledging to protect each other from terrorists "in their common neighborhood." Experts say Putin also discussed arms deals with China and India. Beyond these statements and deals, Russia has mentioned an ambitious vision of turning the SCO into a pan-Asian body. Putin has spoken "positively" in the past about the idea of India, a nation of one billion people, joining the SCO.
On November 28, Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha denied that India, Russia and China were forming a strategic union, aimed mainly at countering the rise of US influence in the region. At the same time, a Russian Foreign Ministry official told journalists in Moscow that "it was too early" to discuss India's possible accession into the SCO.
The SCO itself, meeting in Moscow on November 23, devoted its official agenda to security within Central Asia and the Middle East. The group's members have echoed Russia in questioning the idea of a unilateral American invasion of Iraq.
The SCO formally established itself as an international organization during a June summit of member states. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives]. But national legislatures have yet to ratify the pact. The Russian Duma's international relations committee has recommended ratification of the Shanghai Convention; the Duma will probably ratify it on December 18.
After four of the six member states ratify the agreement, the SCO charter should reflect Putin's conviction that the United Nations should be in charge of mounting anti-terrorist action around the world. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight archives].
SCO members believe that the effort to promote global security should rely on "mechanisms of collective decision-making and democratization of international relations," the document says. Its wording implicitly opposes American unilateral tendencies exhibited by the Bush administration. The charter also envisions uniquely Asian contributions to the war on terrorism, including the establishment of an antiterrorism center in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. The center's chief, Russian general Boris Mylnikov, told the RIA news agency on November 20 that the SCO had approved an anti-terrorist declaration, but that "practical steps" would have to wait until an SCO budget takes shape.
When the SCO first began developing, as early as 1997, many saw it as a way to band together Russia, China and Central Asian nations in order to contest American global domination. After the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the SCO's relevance and viability became a matter of increasing debate. By reaching out to China and India, Putin is trying to revitalize the idea of an Asian bloc. Russian national SCO coordinator and President Putin's special envoy, Vitaly Vorobyov, is due to visit Jakarta, Indonesia in December to discuss ties with another Asian regional body, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Editor's note:
Sergei Blagov is a Moscow-based specialist in CIS political affairs.
