SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION

Shanghai Cooperation Organization: translation

(SCO)

Established in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization assumed the role played by Shanghai Five, which had been founded in 1996 as an intergovernmental mutual security organization linking Russia,China, and certainCentral Asianrepublics (in 2001,UzbekistanjoinedKazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, andTajikistanas members of the organization). The original grouping grew out of regional efforts to reducemilitarytensions on the countries’ respective borders. Over time, the Shanghai grouping broadened its focus to include cooperation oncounterterrorism, suppression ofseparatismand other forms of extremism, interdiction ofnarcoticstrafficking, and regional security.Joint military exercises were initiated inChelyabinskin 2007. The following year, the SCO signed an agreement with theCollective Security Treaty Organizationto expand cooperation on cross-border security and transnationalcrime. Future economic cooperation has also been proposed by China, the only member that is not part of theEurasian Economic Community. Current observers of the organization includeIndia,Iran,Mongolia, and Pakistan; Tehran applied for full membership on 24 March 2008. The group also has relations with Sri Lanka,Afghanistan, andBelarus. While theUnited Statesinitially was suspicious of the organization as a counterbalance to theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO), Washington saw increasing value in the existence of the SCO after theSeptember 11 attacks.