At the end of August, Tianjin's heat slowly declined, and autumn came, and the beautiful sea flags floated on both sides of the river.
This coastal city has welcomed many important guests: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Petzhizyan, and other leaders from Egypt and Cambodia.
Picture of Putin.
Their purpose in Tianjin is very clear-to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
What is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and how can it recruit so many national leaders? The story began in 2001. At that time, the collapse of the Soviet Union created a vacuum in Central Asia, and terrorist groups began to do many things here, and it was very rampant.
At this time, as a responsible major country, China and Russia, together with the Central Asian countries, formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The initial intention of the establishment is clear: counter-terrorism. We coordinate on counter-terrorism intelligence and measures. For this purpose, the organization has two permanent agencies: one is the secretariat located in Beijing, the other is the counter-terrorism center located in Tashkent.
The organization worked well, and later other countries also felt this place was good and wanted to join, so the circle of friends gradually expanded. The node worth mentioning was 2017: India and Pakistan the hosts joined at the same time, which is important – hostile countries sometimes can not talk directly, at the multilateral summit, they can do some sort of exchange. Why is it safe? Why is the platform important? With the platform, everyone can meet and exchange.
In addition, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization also has dialogue countries and observers.There are currently two dialogue countries: Mongolia and Afghanistan; there are more observers, including Cambodia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia.
There are clear criteria for the organization's expansion: first become an observer state - you can listen and make friends at the meeting; if you want to formally join, you need to submit an application, promote from an observer state to a dialogue partner country, the dialogue partner country is equivalent to a "entry ticket"; after qualifying, you can become a formal member state.
At present, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has 10 member countries, 2 dialogue partners and 14 observer countries, and will continue to expand in the future.
Symbol of the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2025" in Tianjin Street
So, what are the characteristics of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization worthy of attention?
First, there are many member countries and observers, covering different civilizations and social systems: Islamic civilization, Russian Orthodox civilization, Chinese East Asian Confucian civilization... Different cultural backgrounds and religions can talk on the same platform, which is a useful attempt in itself.
Second, organizational functions are constantly expanding, initially for anti-terrorist cooperation only, and now develop into three things:
Counter-terrorism cooperation: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries are facing terrorist threats, and the exchange of intelligence and information on this platform is beneficial for all countries;
Economic cooperation: Many leaders come together and naturally talk about economic cooperation, and some bilateral economic disputes are easier to communicate or resolve on multilateral occasions.
Human and cultural exchanges: The exchange of countries depends on people's relationships, and the human and cultural exchange mechanism can eliminate prejudices and gradually reduce national contradictions.
Of course, no international organization can be perfect. People worry: after the membership expands, if everything needs to be agreed upon, will it be less efficient to encounter one or two "trouble" countries?
However, the original intention of the SCO is not to confront or target third parties, but to seek regional peace and stability, economic cooperation, and humanitarian exchanges, so the new membership will not create core contradictions as long as it meets these three initial intentions.
The picture shows Modi
And now, with India joining, India will play some role here, it can also play a good role. that Prime Minister of India Modi did not want to come, at the beginning did not intend, the result is that Trump gave him a 50% tariff, can not see what to do, face the western side of the light did not light, and turned his head back to the east came.
Therefore, it is actually accidental that Modi came to this event, that is, Trump was unkind to him. Modi said that you don't blame me for being unjust and turned around here.
Therefore, this meeting with Putin and Modi, the relationship between India and Russia, on this platform, needs to look for a new direction again, find out how to partner against the United States, and how to go to India to continue to buy Russian oil.
Therefore, with India's strength on the international stage, the future Shanghai Cooperation Organization, originally China-Russia-dominated, will not be the same as the European Union was the "three chariots" in the future, will not the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and China-India-Russia "three chariots" as a leading forward.
The key here depends on whether India can play a positive role. Whether India can play a positive role depends on Modi and what India does. Anyway, we welcome India when it comes, but we must also be more vigilant.