Professor Neil Macfarlane writes on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Neil Macfarlane has written a blog article (14 June) for the ZOiS (Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien) website, about the organisation for overseeing political, economic, and security cooperation between Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

He writes, “Concern by the Russian elite over the geopolitical threat from Beijing to Moscow’s position in Northeast and Central Asia is deeply rooted. It would be reasonable to expect considerable tension between the two great powers in the region.

Yet since 1996, China, Russia, and the Central Asian republics (except Turkmenistan) have cooperated in the development of the SCO. In June 2017, the organisation admitted India and Pakistan. In short, Russia has resisted external engagement in the West but has embraced it in Central Asia.

How do we explain the contrast?”

The full article is available here: http://en.zois-berlin.de/publications/zois-spotlight/ambition-versus-achievement/