Under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, the Neighbourhood First policy has received fresh impetus. India’s foreign policy arc no longer solely rests on forging or balancing bilateral relationships with super-powers (most notably the US), but has reoriented towards its backyard. In his government’s strategic imagination, India’s relations with neighbouring countries must receive the topmost priority. This article takes stock of India’s pivot to Eurasia, underpinned by the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO),being held on June 13-14, Bishkek, Krygyzstan.
Modi is often known for projecting himself as an innovative and decisive leader who could make things happen. This was evident from his invitation to the leaders of from the South Asian continent to attend his inauguration in 2014. True to his style, this time too,he invited leaders from the BIMSTEC grouping, along with leaders from the Krygz republic and the Maldives that reaffirms the government’s strategic focus.
His outreach to his Krygyzstan counterpart, who is also currently the chair of the SCO, is the one that deserves attention on this context. For long, where India had been merely cognizant of the forum (given that it had been an observer until 2017), the recent invitation clearly signals India’s desire to increase its engagement with the organization.
History of the SCO
Having begun as the Shanghai Five in 1996 to resolve border disputes between China and four other members i.e. Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the forum re-christened itself as the SCO in 2001, after the admission of Uzbekistan. The forum, which primarily started as a security organization, with a moderate ambition of managing border skirmishes and jointly combatting the “three evil forces“ of terrorism, separatism and extremism,has evolved to include in its agenda, political, economic and security cooperation.
The SCO opportunity
The admission of India and Pakistan in 2017 has expanded the geographical, demographical and economic profile of the SCO, where the grouping currently represents 42 % of global population,22 % of land area and 20 % of global GDP. The SCO’s relevance for India lies in geography, economics and geopolitics. Its members occupy a huge landmass that lies adjacent to India’s extended neighbourhood, where India has both economic and security imperatives.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the optimal development of India’s relations with Central Asian countries has been constrained by both political and security reasons. Incidentally, the factor that had actually pulled off India from its formal participation in the summit is the overwhelming Chinese presence in the forum. As Robert Kaplan explains in The Revenge of Geography, where given the idea of a Eurasian integration is organic, its avatar is decidedly Chinese. This is further exemplified by the fact that India is the only country to oppose the BRI (Belt and Road) initiative where, the other SCO members have embraced it.
India’s strategy at SCO
Given that conventionally, SCO has been a China-led forum with an overwhelming economic presence, it is in India’s interest to carve out a political and economic space for itself in Central Asia. Following the disintegration of the USSR, where both Russia and China have attempted a joint influence over the region, the Central Asian countries would welcome India in breaking into this duopoly.
Further, all of this definitely plays out in the broader scheme of things where India is looking to broaden both its economic and strategic engagement. In this sense, the SCO will act as a lever that not only aids India in enhancing its economic cooperation with the Eurasian states, but will also allow India to benefit from the security framework, especially on counter-terrorism. Also, the issue of global terrorism, situation in Afghanistan and the connectivity project through Iran are some critical subjects that essentially ties with the importance of India’s association with the SCO. And this in itself is enough fodder for India to capitalize on the platform to consolidate itself both on the economic and strategic front.
India Outbound
June 14, 2019
source https://indiaoutbound.org/modi-neighbourhood-policy-the-shanghai-cooperation-summit/
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