As U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is in Russia talking nice about cooperation over supply lines to Afghanistan through Central Asia, other U.S. officials are giving indications that Washington is interested in cooperating more with China in Central Asia. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia just visited China, where he mentioned that the U.S. might be interested in collaborating with China in Central Asia -- via the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This would be a remarkable about-face for Washington, which has held the SCO at arm's length (to put it generously). And it would be even more remarkable if the SCO reciprocated, given its history as an organization basically dedicated to keeping the U.S. out of Central Asia.
Blake gave a press conference in Beijing, and this was in his opening statement:
In addition to our bilateral engagement we talked about the importance of greater engagement with relevant regional organizations. In Central Asia the Shanghai Cooperation Organization seeks to bolster security, economic and cultural cooperation between China, Russia and Central Asia. We see the potential for greater U.S.-China dialogue on areas of mutual interest such as counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism in support of the SCO’s efforts.
Through greater engagement with regional organizations across South and Central Asia we seek to facilitate spheres of cooperation among regional organizations that reflect the geopolitical and economic realities of a 21st Century Asia. China’s support will be critical in this effort.
And then later, in the Q&A:
QUESTION: [Inaudible] the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, so will it become a principle in terms of U.S. and China cooperation of Central Asia?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY BLAKE: We discussed that today with our Chinese friends, and we think that potentially it could. As you know, the SCO is a consensus-based organization and the United States has not made any decisions about whether we’re going to seek some sort of status within as an observer or as a dialogue partner. But at the same time we do have good relations and good dialogues with all the SCO members, and we think the SCO is a good platform for discussions on how to improve stability and prosperity in the region. I look forward to meeting later today with representatives of the SCO.
Four years ago, the U.S. was openly disdainful of the SCO. From a report on the group's 2007 summit in Bishkek:
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormick could barely disguise his disdain when discussing the SCO summit, in particular the group's decision to entertain Iran as an observer. "If they [SCO leaders] want to associate with them [Iranian officials], that's up to them," McCormick said just before the summit's opening.
When several of the presidents in attendance, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, went to Chelyabinsk, Russia, to watch the final day of large-scale SCO military exercises, Putin used the occasion to drop a bombshell: Russian strategic bombers, he said, would resume regular long-range patrols for the first time since the end of the Cold War. "Starting today, such tours of duty will be conducted regularly and on the strategic scale," Putin said. "Our pilots have been grounded for too long. They are happy to start a new life."
US officials, again, responded with pique: "If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision," McCormick said.
What a difference four years makes. It's also worth noting that the U.S., including the Obama administration, has blocked NATO cooperation with an analogous organization, the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The CSTO and SCO have a significant amount of overlap in their membership, the most salient difference being that the SCO is dominated by China and the CSTO by Russia. So is this a sign the U.S. is favoring Chinese influence in Central Asia over Russian?
Again worth noting: China has had a history of using the SCO to suppress Uyghur separatists and other political movements, getting the Central Asian states to crack down on Uyghurs. Most notoriously, Uzbekistan in 2006 arrested a Canadian citizen of Uyghur origin, Huysen Calil, and extradited him to China, where he was sentenced to life in prison on terrorism charges. Amnesty International implicates the SCO:
The plight of Uighurs asylum seekers in Central Asia has, however, worsened as these countries have strengthened their economic, military and political cooperation with China through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). In June this year, just prior to the SCO Council of Heads of State meeting in Shanghai and the extradition of Husein Celil to China, the Chinese and Uzbek leaders reaffirmed that cracking down on the so-called "three evil forces", including “ East Turkestan forces”, is in the common interests of China and Uzbekistan.
Now, none of this is to say that cooperation with the SCO is a bad idea. Engagement can be a lot more effective way to get countries to cooperate with you than hectoring them from a podium. But U.S.-SCO cooperation would raise a lot of interesting questions.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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