ШОС

It's the only major international organization that has neither the US nor any US ally among its members, and its influence is growing rapidly in trouble-plagued Central Asia.
The six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), with Russia and China at its core, marked its 10th anniversary Wednesday with a lavish summit in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, with leaders from nearby Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Mongolia attending as observers. Member states are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0615/Afghanistan-looms-large-at-SCO-security-group-meeting

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The SCO started out as a modest enterprise, created by China to enlist neighboring states’ cooperation in maintaining stability in the troubled Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of northwestern China. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan agreed to work with Beijing to prevent the cross-border populations of ethnic Uighurs from mobilizing to challenge Chinese rule. In turn, they gained China’s cooperation in opposing their own ethnic and Islamist movements. Russia found the SCO useful because it provided a cooperative rather than competitive framework for the extension of Chinese influence in the region, reducing Moscow’s fear that Beijing might try to challenge its primary role.
Since its founding, the SCO has taken off in surprising ways. It has helped China compete with U.S. interests for oil-field development rights and the construction of natural-gas pipelines. Trade, investment and transportation links have grown rapidly, making China a high-ranking partner of most of the Central Asian republics. China’s investment in the SCO appears to have paid unexpected dividends; it has allowed Beijing to project its diplomatic power not only within the region but also in international fora, and it has contributed to China’s international respectability. The SCO has four observer nations (India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan), two dialogue partners (Belarus and Sri Lanka) and three guest members (Afghanistan, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)—of these, three of the most powerful and strategically important are clamoring for full membership (India, Iran and Pakistan)...

What the SCO now seeks is greater worldwide recognition, which will increase its legitimacy and, as a result, enhance the influence and agendas of its member states, particularly China. Accordingly, engagement with the SCO cannot be freely given. It must be conditioned on genuine transparency and accountability for human-rights violations, with clear benchmarks for progress. Otherwise, the SCO’s next ten years are likely to reveal even worse surprises.

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-dubious-agenda-the-sco-5478?page=show