Twenty Years of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) started from solving boundary issues, grew from counter-terrorism cooperation, developed and deepened in political, economic, cultural, educational and other fields of cooperation, and gradually developed into a new model of multilateral cooperation. This paper intends to outline the main achievements, challenges and prospects of the SCO after the two decades of its existence. After debate and discussion, the results that emerge from this paper show that over the past 20 years since the SCO establishment in June 2001, its concept of cooperation has been constantly enriched and developed. Its cooperation mechanism has been constantly enriched and improved; and its areas of cooperation have been expanded. However, with its development over time and the advancement of its cooperation practices, the SCO also faces challenges and development difficulties on its way forward; these include the facts of: the intensification of great power game in the region, the weakness of the sense of community between its member states and the transformation of cooperation pattern faces after expansion. Looking ahead, the Shanghai Spirit will guide its multilateral cooperation vision. The SCO mechanism provides an important guarantee for its multilateral cooperation ahead. The new type of international relations will serve as an important driving force for its multilateral cooperation vision. Based on our findings, this paper reasoned that the SCO is fully capable of exerting greater influence and delivering greater results in the years to come.