The world's largest and most populous regional institution – the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – is reportedly set to officially usher in Iran as its new member at the upcoming virtual summit on Tuesday.
Besides Iran, Belarus had also applied to join the SCO in 2022.
SCO's inauguration of its new membership, which marks a new round of expansion of the Eurasia-spanning organization, testifies to the popularity of its principles and concepts that offer a new form of international relations contributing to regional stability and development, according to experts and officials.
Rounds of expansion
Founded in Shanghai in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the SCO has experienced different stages of expansion. It now has eight members, in addition to four observer states and 14 dialogue partners, according to SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming in May.
Including Iran, the SCO members span an area of 36 million square kilometers, covering three-fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 3.4 billion, around 43 percent of the world's total population. The combined gross domestic product accounts for about 30 percent of all the countries adding up together, a 13-fold increase since its founding.
Iran's official accession is undoubtedly a landmark for the future advancement of the SCO, which means that "for the first time the organization will extend its influence to the Persian Gulf region," Huang Bing, a researcher specializing in institutional study from Party School of Tianjin Municipal Committee of the CPC, told CGTN.
The SCO and Iran will form an interactive and win-win situation, where both sides can shape each other, realizing mutual develop, Qin Tian, Deputy Director of Middle East Institute from China Institute of Modern International Relations, said in an commentary.
AS China and Iran formed a comprehensive strategic partnership, this relationship will also be strengthened under the SCO framework in the future, Qin added.
What lies behind expansion
The process of Iran and Belarus's applications for a full membership was considered a new round of expansion for the SCO, which was described by Zhang Ming as a "natural process" rather than a goal deliberately pursued by the SCO.
According to experts, it is attributed to SCO's principles and concepts that meet the need of the countries which seek a path of independent and peaceful development and reject an unequal international order shaped by the U.S.-enforced hegemony.
The original intention of founding the SCO was to fight against the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism that used to be rampant in the region.
However, the SCO is not a military alliance and does not assume the function of joint defense.
Under the guidance of the Shanghai Spirit, a bedrock principle of the bloc, the SCO countries have rendered each other respect and support, forging a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
Member states' collaboration has expanded from security to include such fields as transportation, energy, finance, investment, agriculture, information technology, innovation and sustainable development.
"Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has promoted hegemony and unilateralism in the name of democracy and human rights to interfere in other countries' internal affairs, triggering global and regional clashes. These have aroused huge discontent among many countries, " Zhang Hong, a researcher from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Russia, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, told China Media Group.
Experts said many countries have thus called for a new form of international relations that respect their independence and format of development.
Both Huang and Qin stressed that the Shanghai Spirit, and non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties principles proposed and practiced by the SCO have proved to be correct and far-sighted.
At the regional level, there are multiple governance mechanisms in the Eurasian region where SCO member states are located, which are highly competitive and even trending toward fierce confrontation, and the principles and concepts of the SCO maximize the consensus and take into account the interests of all parties, mobilize the enthusiasm of member states to cooperate, and thus are widely recognized by regional countries, Qin noted.
He said SCO member states uphold an independent and autonomous foreign policy, and Iran, which has long been known for its diplomatic independence, has joined to strengthen the original nature of the SCO.
According to Zhang, the SCO, abiding by the Shanghai Spirit, has always respected diverse civilizations and the development path chosen by each country. Besides, its member states have proved effective cooperation in jointly combating terrorism and extremist forces.
More and more countries wanted to join the organization as they "have realized its positive role in the democratization of the international order in terms of maintaining regional stability and development," he said.
SCO in new era
Based on the current trend, the experts and officials predicted that the SCO would continue to expand its membership in the future.
They also confirmed that, with increasing membership, the differences among its members, including in national power, political systems, economic structures, religious beliefs and cultural traditions, will become more pronounced. However, they expressed confidence that the differences could be well managed within the organization.
"An organization is like a family. It is inevitable that contradictions and frictions arise within an international organization, just like within a family. The important thing is to try to seek common ground while preserving differences, or to seek differences while preserving common ground," Zhang Ming said at a press conference in May.
The secretary-general noted that although the SCO has not had a mechanism to resolve disputes among its member states,none of them has called for the resolution of problems with another member through the organization's mediation over the past 20 years.
He attributed this to the basic concepts and values of the SCO, which create a favorable environment among member states by promoting cooperation, helping them to find common ground and interests to overcome disputes.
"Even though our world is undergoing profound changes and facing complex challenges, cooperation in various fields by SCO members continues to deepen, gaining more and more recognition and attention from the international community."
To a certain extent, the SCO in the new era is more profoundly aware of the Eurasian region as a crossroads of civilizations, according to Qin.
It needs to further consider the region a compound of Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia to form a more unified "Eurasian perspective." And this vision, is line with the concept of "a community with a shared future" and three global initiatives proposed by China, he said.
(Cover: Flags of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and its member states at a demonstration area in Qingdao, Shandong Province, October 19, 2022. /CFP)