Can China and Russia put aside Central Asian rivalry for SCO aims to counter West?

Both nations want Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to counter Western hegemony, but rivalry over influence in Russia’s ‘backyard’ might be a concern

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet on the sidelines of the SCO leaders’ summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday. Photo: TNS

Published: 8:00pm, 6 Jul 2024Updated: 8:38pm, 6 Jul 2024

China and Russia’s bid to hold up the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a counterweight to the West has sparked concerns that Beijing’s economic scale might overshadow Moscow’s agenda for Central Asia, long considered a Russian “backyard”.

However, observers expect Russia to focus more on cooperation than rivalry with China, given common security concerns in the Eurasian hinterland and Moscow’s eastward economic shift after its invasion of Ukraine.

The annual SCO summit earlier this week in Kazakhstan was attended by the leaders of both countries. Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin also met on the sidelines of the event, their fifth talks in person this year.

Bilateral ties had entered “a golden period” built on “the principles of equality, mutual benefit”, Putin told Xi during Wednesday’s meeting as he hailed the growing importance of the Shanghai alliance.

“The [SCO] has firmly established itself as one of the key pillars of a fair, multipolar world order,” he said.

Zeno Leoni, a lecturer in the defence studies department of King’s College London, said that while Russia and China had not always seen eye to eye on the SCO’s role, they were working together to build it up as a force to counter Western “hegemony”.