The motto of the SCO is "Security through Cooperation" and security was the main subject of this summit. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, in his post-summit remarks, said the threat of terrorism and extremism is not confined to the Central Asian region: "We declare once again that the threat facing Central Asia today is a threat facing the whole of Eurasia. The source nourishing terrorism and extremism is the instability in Afghanistan." Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin have pointed to Muslim separatists in their own countries - Chechens and Uighurs, respectively - as a source of ongoing instability. Both leaders have portrayed their domestic conflicts as international in origin, saying that extremist networks based in Afghanistan aid them.
During the summit, the six members signed an agreement pledging to back Russia and China in their regional conflicts. The support of the Central Asian countries - which are predominantly Muslim - may help both Russia and China to deal with what they perceive as an organized extremist threat. China and Russia also gained support for their opposition to plans by the United States to develop and deploy a missile defense system. The pledge comes just one day before Putin's meeting with US President George W. Bush on Saturday.
The group's final statement called the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty - from which the US is hoping to withdraw - a cornerstone of stability, peace, and nuclear deterrence. It said the group would reject any US plan to amend or abandon the ABM Treaty. In return, the Central Asian nations received promises of support in their own areas of conflict. Another extremist group - the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan - has been causing concern in the region for the last two years. Islam Karimov, President of SCO member Uzbekistan, said he was confident the alliance could resolve key security issues in Central Asia: "There will be stability and peace in Central Asia. The great needs will be met."
The agreement in Shanghai to open an anti-terrorist center in the Kirghyz capital Bishkek provides at least moral support to the Central Asian governments. A CIS rapid reaction force was created already last month at a meeting of the CIS Collective Security Treaty states - Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirghyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus, and Armenia. A unit of some 2,000 soldiers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirghyzstan and Tajikistan is expected to be ready by August to fight any potential insurgencies in Central Asia. The SCO anti-terrorist center, however, may do little more than coordinate information between the six member states. An additional summit agreement stipulates that China can send troops into Central Asia at the request of one or more of the Central Asian states in the SCO.
The organization will now seek international recognition. Russian President Putin said the regional alliance can serve as an example to other nations: "We are confident that the example of good relations among neighbors and of a mutually advantageous partnership... from Europe to the Pacific Ocean, which the countries of the SCO are demonstrating will be positively received by the world community. According to the general consensus reached yesterday in our closed session with the leaders, the material [to register for formal status] will be officially handed to the United Nations."
The presidents seemed content to leave the organization's membership at six countries. Officials from the original five member countries have said repeatedly that the SCO, though based on geographical links, is open to all nations sharing the group's goals. But Putin's special representative, Vitaly Borobyev, said entry bids by India and Pakistan would not be considered in the near future, because these states "are not related to the region concerned."
