Posted 22 сентября 2021,, 06:26

Published 22 сентября 2021,, 06:26

Modified 24 декабря 2022,, 22:36

Updated 24 декабря 2022,, 22:36

Iran became a permanent member of the SCO: what will it give to Russia and China

Iran became a permanent member of the SCO: what will it give to Russia and China

22 сентября 2021, 06:26
Фото: regnum.ru
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is expanding. Iran has just been admitted to its full membership, to the complete surprise of the United States - Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar received the status of "dialogue partners".

Turkey, as an observer country, would very much like to become the tenth member of the SCO, but it was refused.

Gennady Charodeyev

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insistently repeats: “Turkey has no need to aspire to join the European Union, because instead it can become part of the SCO. I told this to Putin and Nazarbayev".

Nevertheless, Turkey was given a turn from the gate. The whole reason is only one thing - its membership in NATO. Although the Turks will still be required to completely remove from the agenda such issues as East Turkestan and Crimea, shift the weight towards the SCO in the field of the defense industry and foreign trade. Erdogan is unlikely to agree to this.

The Iranians, too, were initially not allowed close to the SCO leadership. In 2008, Iran wanted to become a full member of the Organization. It was a time of tough confrontation between Iran and the international community, the IAEA and the UN in connection with the uncontrolled and provocative development of the Iranian nuclear program. Experiencing pressure from these structures, Tehran tried to get away from the threatening isolation and “hide” under the SCO umbrella. Between 2006 and 2010, the UN Security Council adopted ten anti-Iranian resolutions, four of which included international sanctions against Tehran.

Of course, experts say, at that time the members of the Organization could not go against the sentiments of the world community, concerned about the situation with Iran, and lit a red light on Iran's path to the SCO.

In addition, Tajikistan opposed Iranian membership in the Organization, since Tehran supported the Tajik opposition, repeatedly hosted representatives of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, which is banned in the republic itself. Dushanbe accused the Iranians of indirect involvement in organizing terrorist acts. In addition, there were other disagreements in the relations between the two states, including financial ones. China and, for a number of reasons, Uzbekistan were also against Iran's admission to the SCO.

After the Americans left Afghanistan and the Taliban (a terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation) came to power, the Tajiks withdrew their objections to Iran's entry into the SCO. Moreover, the other day in Dushanbe, the presidents of the two countries Emomali Rahmon and Ebrahim Raisi held talks and, following the meeting, signed eight documents on cooperation in various fields.

The question arises: does the Shanghai Cooperation Organization today need another "axis of evil" capable of causing almost a third world war?

At the last summit in Dushanbe, the situation in Afghanistan was discussed. According to the Kremlin, Iran is an important regional player. He can influence general decisions regarding Kabul. Moreover, Tehran's position is similar to that of Moscow, and even it is tougher. The Russian side is not satisfied with the actions of the Taliban (banned in the Russian Federation - ed.) In creating a transitional government. But if Moscow is watching what is happening, Tehran does not hesitate to make harsh statements and the leaders of the Taliban listen. That is why the Iranians are able to influence the position of the SCO member states.

“The green light was turned on to Iran primarily because of the events in Afghanistan”, - Vladimir Sazhin, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Novye Izvestia. - Iran historically has a very strong influence on neighboring Afghanistan, where many Shia Hazaras live. Before the fall of Kabul, Iran had a very large trade turnover with Afghanistan. And now Tehran is ready, under certain conditions, to start cooperating with the Taliban. The SCO understands that the problem of Afghanistan is very difficult, and it will be even more difficult to solve it without Iran. Therefore, the admission of Iran to the permanent members of the SCO can help the countries of the Organization find a common point of view on the future of Afghanistan”, - the expert said.

Some analysts believe that the SCO is being transformed into a kind of anti-American bloc - Russia, China, Iran. But can this happen? India and Pakistan have close ties with the United States, and their relationship with America is on the rise. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and their neighbors are not so anti-American.

Today, almost all SCO members have business bilateral relations with Iran. This includes, among other things, the North-South corridor: its various branches can connect Central Asia to this intercontinental route from Southeast Asia through India and Iran - to St. Petersburg and to Europe. In this regard, India continues to implement the most important strategic project for the region on the construction of the port of Chehbehar in the south of Iran.

At the same time, Western analysts point out that Tehran will not receive significant benefits from membership in the SCO due to the Organization's focus on cooperation in the field of security. Iran will be forced to support one side or the other in resolving controversial issues that do not affect its national interests, but are capable of affecting relations with allies.

An example of such a situation can be the territorial disputes between India and China. It is possible that Iran's accession to the SCO, where China and Russia play key roles, will cause a negative reaction from the Arabian monarchies, which adhere to a pro-Western policy and can now perceive Tehran as an instrument of influence for Beijing and Moscow in the Middle East.

Russia, according to the Turkish daily Habertürk, in this process seeks to maintain its dominance in the post-Soviet space, including the Turkic world, with the help of various international organizations such as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

China, on the other hand, is looking for ways to more safely meet its energy needs in parallel with rapidly expanding production. At the same time, the PRC aims to balance West Turkestan (the Turkic republics of Central Asia), with which it borders, and to make East Turkestan an internal problem of the Organization.

“It's no secret that relations within the SCO, between its members, are by no means cloudless”, - said Vladimir Sazhin. - China in the region and in the world competes with India, which in turn competes with Pakistan. The Central Asian republics also have political and economic claims to each other. Thus, Uzbekistan objects to the construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power station in Tajikistan. In his opinion, this may lead to the shallowing of the Amu Darya, which will damage the cotton growing of Uzbekistan. There is a problem of borders and enclaves between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, where ethnic groups of the neighboring country live.

After the collapse of the USSR, the Fergana Valley became the territory of confrontation between almost all Central Asian republics. By the way, the Shanghai Five was created in 1996 to resolve interstate, interethnic contradictions in the Fergana Valley.

- To a certain extent, the positions of the SCO members on Afghanistan differ. China is ready to cooperate with the new government in Kabul. India strongly opposes this and insists on the creation of an inclusive government with the participation of all peoples and ethnic groups living in Afghanistan. Some political analysts believe that the refusal to travel to Dushanbe by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is connected with the Afghan problem. This decision was due to the fact that they have diametrically opposed positions on the situation in Afghanistan, and in order not to create a conflict, they decided to refrain from a face-to-face meeting, '' said expert Sazhin.

Political scientist Andrei Suzdaltsev, in an interview with Novye Izvestia, said that the main task of the SCO is to ensure the security of the participating countries. It is known that from time to time armed conflicts break out between them - remember Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. All this cannot but worry the Russian side. Our interests here in the SCO are intertwined with those of China. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is also an open platform for dialogue. This is where all the contradictions are extinguished. But there is also the problem of the United States' huge claims against China. There is an opinion in the expert community that the Americans, fleeing from Afghanistan, deliberately left so many of their weapons to the Taliban so that they would “help” the Muslim brothers in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to fight the communist regime in Beijing. And although the SCO is not a military bloc, China is strongly interested in strengthening the Organization, it hopes very much on Iran in this matter, the expert told Novye Izvestia.

Recall that the SCO was created in 1996 between China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with the aim of helping to resolve regional border conflicts and security problems. At the time of Iran's accession (the decision was made last Friday), the SCO already had eight permanent members - India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The observer countries today are Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia. There are also dialogue partners who, however, do not participate in decision-making mechanisms - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, as well as Turkey.

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