SCO leaders hail unity yet struggle to find common ground at Samarkand summit

As Xi, Putin and other Eurasian leaders gathered for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, promises of stronger economic ties and a shared global agenda could not conceal political differences, especially over the war in Ukraine

Theo Normanton

Published: 3:30am, 20 Sep 2022

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It was all smiles when the leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand posed for a group photo. After two days of backslapping and calls for closer integration on trade, agriculture, and even sports, the Eurasian leaders seemed to be getting along famously. “The SCO is the strongest regional organisation in the world today,” declared Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Behind the scenes, however, the group is less harmonious. Even as the presidents of member countries Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were sitting down to dinner together, skirmishes on the border of the two states threatened to spiral into a widespread conflict.

The leaders of observer countries Azerbaijan and Armenia also attended the summit shortly after their troops had clashed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The format makes for an uneasy alliance, united predominantly by common economic interests. This was reflected in the resolutions passed at the summit and the agreements forged on the sidelines, which largely focused on economic cooperation.

The leaders of China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed an agreement on the construction of a railway linking their three countries. Erkinbek Osoyev, Kyrgyzstan’s transport minister, said the new route will carry between 7 and 13 million tonnes of freight a year. Crucially, it could also form the basis of a new goods artery – the “Middle Corridor” – which cuts the journey of freight to Europe by 900km, by bypassing Russia.

Plans for the railway were originally drawn up in 1997, but the project was repeatedly shelved due to Russian opposition. Now, however, Putin appears to have dropped his objections. The agreement on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway therefore seems symptomatic of Russia’s weakened position in Central Asia.

Evidence of Russia’s waning influence was plentiful at the Samarkand summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin have met no fewer than 39 times since Xi became head of the Chinese Communist Party 10 years ago. They have celebrated birthdays together, and refer to each other as “best friends”. They have a very personal, close relationship – at least publicly.

Putin greeted Xi for the first time since the Beijing Winter Olympics, recognising that “a lot has happened in that time”. He said that he understood Beijing had “questions and concerns” about Russia’s war with Ukraine in a nod towards China’s unenviable position reconciling compliance with Western sanctions with a strategic partnership with Putin.

Nonetheless, Putin insisted that, “Our countries converge on our approaches to the majority of significant questions on the global agenda.” He told Xi that he blamed “the provocations of the United States and its satellites” for the crisis in Taiwan, which broke out after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August. Xi, for his part, failed to mention Ukraine once in his talk with Putin.

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Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin speak in person for first time since Russia invaded Ukraine

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was even more pointed, telling his Russian counterpart that, “I know that today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.”

But not all leaders insisted on distancing themselves from Russia. Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran – which was admitted as a full member of the SCO on Friday – told Putin that countries which face US sanctions can work together to “overcome many problems and issues and become stronger”.

Tehran called on the SCO to help it avert Western sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme. Some members even adopted a road map for increasing their reserves of each other’s national currencies in mutual settlements and cutting down on the use of the US dollar, but the idea was not universally embraced, according to the Samarkand Declaration.

At the end of the two-day summit, however, there was a general consensus that the group should unite against what Xi called “foreign meddling”.

“We must grasp the trend of the times, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and promote the construction of a closer community of destiny with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Xi said. He emphasised the need to jointly safeguard security and development interests and prevent outside forces from staging “colour revolutions”.

Leaders of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization pose for a group photo at the summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 16. Photo: Xinhua

This idea of overlooking members’ internal differences to turn the SCO into a counterweight to the West seems to have gained traction within the group.

The Samarkand Declaration, signed by all leaders at the end of the summit, announced that “based on their similar views of the current regional and international agenda, the Member States reaffirm their commitment to the formation of a more representative, democratic, just and multipolar world order”.

In this vein, Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko floated the idea of a joint sporting event with the members and friends of the SCO. Lukashenko’s proposal to hold it in either 2024 or 2026 – putting it on a collision course with either the Summer or Winter Olympics – leaves little doubt that this is retaliation for Russia’s exclusion from the Games.

Xi welcomes a weakened Putin at SCO summit

The SCO is now the world’s largest regional organisation, accounting for around 60 per cent of the area of Eurasia and half of the world’s population. With Egypt and Qatar becoming dialogue partners, and Bahrain, Kuwait, Myanmar, the Maldives and the UAE all expressing an interest in taking part, the format is eyeing rapid expansion.

As India prepares to take up chairmanship of the group next year, expect the members of the SCO to stick to questions of trade and condemnations of Western overreach. Finding common ground beyond those familiar walls will be a tough ask.

Theo Normanton is the Moscow correspondent for bne IntelliNews. He covers current affairs in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, with a particular focus on economics and markets