Authors

Discussion

Russia used the 2025 SCO summit in order to showcase its promotion of multipolarity promotion, using a narrower circle of sanctioned states. China emphasised the Shanghai spirit which focuses on fairness and justice for all humanity, as well as inter-civilizational dialogue. This year was also the ‘SCO Year of Sustainable Development’, and China positioned itself at the forefront of sustainability and green energy (differently from Russia which still promotes traditional energy sources), assisting a number of Central Asian states in this area. 

However, the dynamics in the SCO regional bloc are increasingly aligned with that of BRICS. They are both expanding and their memberships increasingly overlap or converge. At this year’s SCO summit, the SCO+ outreach exercise featured representatives of the Eurasian Economic Union and ASEAN, so highlighting the continued evolution of the Global South towards building a SCO-EAEU-ASEAN triangle in Eurasia. The SCO is increasingly depicted as part of a new nested global order, with the BRI and the BRICS as the umbrella global framework, within which sits the SCO as a regional organisation with sometimes overlapping memberships.

This paper examines the changing identity of the SCO, as it moves from a focus on regional cooperation issues in Central Asia to a more global focus.