The SCO and the illusion of moral multipolarity

Source: The post “The SCO and the illusion of moral multipolarity” has been created based on “The SCO and the illusion of moral multipolarity” published in “The Pioneer” on 05th September 2026.

UPSC Syllabus: GS-2- International Relations

Context: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is evolving from a regional security forum into a broader institutional network covering finance, technology, energy, connectivity, artificial intelligence, information security, and trade. Its growing importance reflects the decline of uncontested Western primacy and the emergence of multiple centres of global power.

SCO and the Emerging Multipolar World

1. The SCO originated from the Shanghai Five in 1996, which included China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
2. The organisation was formally established in 2001, when Uzbekistan joined the grouping.
3. India and Pakistan joined the SCO in 2017, Iran joined in 2023, and Belarus joined in 2024, significantly expanding its geographical and political importance.
4. The SCO should not simply be viewed as an anti-Western military alliance, because its members have diverse interests and it officially rejects bloc confrontation.
5. The organisation is increasingly becoming an institutional network covering counterterrorism, narcotics, information security, artificial intelligence, computing infrastructure, ports, logistics, energy, climate, biodiversity, nuclear security, emergency assistance, and cultural cooperation.

China’s Growing Economic Influence

1. China has converted its economic strength into structural influence through trade, infrastructure financing, industrial investment, telecommunications, transport corridors, energy, and technology.
2. Chinese involvement in Central Asia is increasingly moving beyond consumer goods and infrastructure towards productive sectors, such as the fertiliser plant being developed in Kyrgyzstan’s Osh region.
3. Such investments can create industrial capacity, reduce import dependence, and promote regional connectivity, but they can also deepen the economic integration of smaller countries with China.
4. China has become an extraordinary export power, with competitive manufacturing in machinery, electronics, electric vehicles, batteries, renewable-energy equipment, and industrial products.
5. Developing countries often purchase Chinese goods because they provide affordability and availability, and such trade cannot automatically be described as exploitation.
6. However, China’s trade with Central Asia is heavily tilted towards Chinese exports, with Chinese customs data showing trade with the five Central Asian republics exceeding $100 billion in 2025 and Chinese exports substantially exceeding imports.
7. Differences between Chinese and Central Asian trade statistics also create difficulties in assessing whether commercial relationships are genuinely equitable.
8. China’s large global trade surplus reflects an important economic imbalance, because the corresponding deficits are borne collectively by other countries.

Limits of the Multipolarity Argument

1. Multipolarity only describes the distribution of power and does not automatically determine how power is exercised.
2. Western military intervention, sanctions, financial coercion, and double standards can legitimately be criticised, but such criticism cannot provide Beijing, Moscow, or any other power with freedom from scrutiny.
3. If Western countries are criticised for using economic and financial asymmetries against weaker states, the same moral standard should be applied to China’s use of its industrial capacity and market power.
4. Therefore, opposition to Western dominance should not automatically be equated with greater justice, equality, or moral legitimacy.

SCO’s Financial and Institutional Challenges

1. The proposed SCO Development Bank demonstrates the gap between political declarations and institutional reality.
2. The Bishkek summit did not establish an operational bank, while questions regarding capital, membership, governance, and headquarters remain unresolved.
3. An alternative financial system cannot be created merely through declarations about de-dollarisation, because it requires capital, liquidity, credible governance, settlement mechanisms, investor confidence, and durable institutions.
4. Alternative payment mechanisms such as China’s CIPS and Russia’s SPFS can reduce dependence on Western financial infrastructure in certain transactions.
5. However, these systems have not displaced the global importance of the US dollar or reproduced the depth and liquidity of dollar-centred financial markets.
6. Therefore, the SCO’s economic credibility will ultimately depend on what its institutions can actually finance rather than what its communiqués promise.

Contradictions within the SCO

1. The SCO emphasises sovereignty and non-interference, while simultaneously engaging with the political future of Afghanistan.
2. It speaks of equality, although its members have enormous differences in economic and military capabilities.
3. It opposes double standards but its members themselves often interpret terrorism, sovereignty, and international law according to their national interests.
4. The treatment of Ukraine and Iran demonstrates the difficulty of developing a common SCO position because its members have different strategic interests.
5. The strong language concerning military strikes on Iran, alongside the absence of a similar reference to Ukraine, highlights these differences.
6. These differences do not necessarily prove hypocrisy; rather, they show that the SCO remains a coalition of interests rather than a unified geopolitical ideology.

Way Forward

1. The SCO should focus on building credible and transparent institutions rather than limiting itself to political declarations.
2. Its economic initiatives should ensure greater transparency in trade, investment, debt, and project financing so that smaller member states can negotiate equitable relationships.
3. The organisation should promote genuine economic diversification and capacity-building rather than creating excessive dependence on any single major power.
4. Its financial initiatives should be supported by credible governance, adequate capital, transparent decision-making, and effective payment mechanisms.
5. The SCO should apply consistent standards of sovereignty, international law, equality, and accountability to all major powers, including its own members.

Conclusion: The rise of the SCO reflects the transition towards a more multipolar international order, but multipolarity should not be confused with moral superiority. The West must be held accountable for its exercise of power, but China, Russia, India, and other emerging powers must also be judged by the same standards of accountability and equality. Thus, the real success of the SCO will depend not on its opposition to Western dominance but on whether it can create effective, equitable, transparent, and durable institutions that genuinely benefit its members.

Question: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is emerging as an important institution in the evolving multipolar world order. However, multipolarity does not necessarily ensure greater equality or justice. Discuss.

Source: The Pioneer