The SCO member states boast a total area of 30 million sq. km, occupying about three-fifths of the Euro-Asia Continent, and with 1.489 billion people, account for a quarter of the world’s population. It is far bigger than NATO or the EU. Not yet a mutual defense pact, it is heading that way, as Sino-Russian military ties with the central Asian states deepen. The inter-governmental organization’s working languages are Chinese and Russian. The presidents of all six member countries gathered in Bishkek on Thursday with leaders from Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia as observers to discuss strategic and economic co-operation. During the summit, the group issued a joint statement calling for a collective approach to energy issues that would increase communication between producers, transit countries, and consumers — a move that could threaten U.S. energy interests in the Caspian Sea.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Central Asian republics formed independent states. The Uighur separatists in China’s Xinjiang drew inspiration from their neighbors’ independence. Militant Uighur groups exploited the weak, central governments of the newly-formed states and Xinjiang’s porous border with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan to establish training camps outside of China’s reach.

Fearing this instability would spread to Xinjiang, Beijing launched a series of crackdowns and a controversial “Strike Hard” campaign to assure order; 1,700 suspected “terrorists” were arrested. In April 1996, China looked to engage its neighbors to the west by creating the “Shanghai Five,” to serve as a bulwark against Islamic fundamentalist subversion. China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan were founding members. On June 15, 2001, its name changed to the SCO after Uzbekistan joined it.

Uzbekistan made headlines in July 2005 after issuing a timeline for U.S. forces to pull out of the Central Asian country, a move that led some to say the organization had emerged as a powerful anti-U.S. bulwark in the region. Soon, the signatory states began cooperating to end the “three evil forces” — terrorism, separatism and extremism. China’s move towards greater regional authority was met with little resistance from the U.S., and with tacit cooperation from Russia. Its anxiety over the Xinjiang region was more in line with the interests of the Central Asian states than the Uighur separatists, and Beijing was able to use this convergence of concerns to increase its regional profile.

The SCO coalition worked to prevent Kazakh and Uighur separatists from using Asian states as a safety zone to plot separatist activities, and it established an anti-terrorist center in Bishkek to coordinate their efforts. After 9-11, Washington’s priorities quickly changed in Central Asia, as fighting Islamic terrorist networks became a top priority. Since the U.S. re-engagement of the region, Beijing and Washington have established closer ties, and the Bush administration gradually allowed its interests to shift towards those of China in return for cooperation on intelligence and anti-terror initiatives. Beijing hopes to gain U.S. concessions on Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang.

On the other hand, China has been actively working to enhance economic and strategic ties with the Central Asian states, while the U.S. has largely focused its relationship with China on issues in the Taiwan Strait and the Korean peninsula. Preoccupied with concerns in Chechnya, Moscow is content with the existing structure of the SCO, and allows China to consolidate its influence in the region.

With U.S. influence waning in Central Asia, the SCO is gaining clout as a leading security organization in the energy-rich region.

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