SCO Marks 25 Years as China-India Rivalry Limits Security Agenda
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The Shanghai Cooperation Organization opens its 25th-anniversary summit on August 31 in Tianjin, with China and Russia seeking to promote an alternative to Western-led institutions. The bloc's security agenda remains weak despite its Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and Peace Mission exercises. Internal tensions, particularly the unresolved China-India border dispute, continue to limit the organization's effectiveness.
Key Facts
- The SCO summit takes place on August 31 and September 1, marking the organization's 25th year.
- The SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and Peace Mission exercises have yielded little in terms of actual security results.
- The 2020 China-India border clash caused the first casualties in decades and remains unresolved despite recent talks.
- India and China agreed this month to establish two additional military hotlines connecting Indian and Chinese army commands.
- At the 2025 SCO Summit in Tianjin, a photo opportunity with Modi, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin showcased India's multidirectional foreign policy.
Security Agenda Limits
The SCO's security agenda has been weak despite the existence of its Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and the Peace Mission military exercises. The organization is not a security treaty and has had little effect in diluting political and military tensions between its major players. The Sino-Indian conflict predates the SCO by decades and periodically erupts into clashes at their disputed border. The most recent clash in 2020 was unusually violent, causing the first casualties from such incidents in decades. Talks this month have made some progress, but the fundamentals of the border conflict are likely to remain unresolved.
India's Diplomatic Balancing
India is carefully managing its engagements with the SCO as a fine diplomatic balancing act between Washington on one side and Beijing and Moscow on the other. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's engagements with the SCO, the Quad, and other minilateral groupings demonstrate India's multidirectional foreign policy. At the 2025 SCO Summit in Tianjin, a photo opportunity with Modi, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin gave India a chance to show it had options. However, China continues to be India's most important national security threat, which limits the utility of these partnerships. The SCO cannot resolve these problems, and in 25 years it has evolved from a narrow Central Asia border security focus to a wider regional institution.
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SCO Marks 25 Years as China-India Rivalry Limits Security Agenda
