Editing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (section)

==Origins==

=== The Shanghai Five ===
The Shanghai Five group was created on 26 April 1996 when the heads of states of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions in [[Shanghai]].<ref name="cfr">{{Cite web |last=Albert |first=Eleanor |date=14 October 2015 |title=The Shanghai Cooperation Organization |url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/shanghai-cooperation-organization |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016032848/https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/shanghai-cooperation-organization |archive-date=16 October 2018 |access-date=15 October 2018 |website=Council on Foreign Relations}}</ref>

On 24 April 1997 the same countries signed the Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions in a meeting in [[Moscow]], Russia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Al-Qahtani|first=Mutlaq|title=The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Law of International Organizations|journal=Chinese Journal of International Law|year=2006|volume=5|issue=1|page=130|publisher=Oxford University Press|issn=1540-1650|doi=10.1093/chinesejil/jml012}}</ref> On 20 May 1997 Russian President [[Boris Yeltsin]] and Chinese President [[Jiang Zemin]] signed a declaration on a "[[Polarity (international relations)|multipolar world]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/52/plenary/a52-153.htm|title=Russian-Chinese Joint Declaration on a Multipolar World and the Establishment of a New International Order|website=United Nations General Assembly|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623154322/http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/52/plenary/a52-153.htm|archive-date=23 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Subsequent annual summits of the Shanghai Five group occurred in [[Almaty]], Kazakhstan in 1998, in [[Bishkek]], Kyrgyzstan in 1999, and in [[Dushanbe]], Tajikistan in 2000. At the Dushanbe summit, members agreed to "oppose intervention in other countries' internal affairs on the reason of 'humanitarianism' and 'protecting human rights;' and support the efforts of one another in safeguarding the five countries' national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and social stability."<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Gill |first1=Bates |date=30 November 2001 |title=Shanghai Five: An Attempt to Counter U.S. Influence in Asia? |url=http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2001/05/04china-gill |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503173641/http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2001/05/04china-gill |archive-date=3 May 2015 |access-date=26 April 2015 |publisher=Brookings}}</ref> The Shanghai Five structure helped speed up the members' resolution of border disputes, agree on military deployments in border areas, and address security threats.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Proń |first=Elżbieta |url= |title=China and Eurasian Powers in a Multipolar World Order 2.0: Security, Diplomacy, Economy and Cyberspace |date=2023 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |others=Mher Sahakyan |isbn=978-1-003-35258-7 |edition= |location=New York |chapter=China in Central Asia: New Developments in 2013-2021 |doi=10.4324/9781003352587-11 |oclc=1353290533}}</ref>{{Rp|page=95}}

=== Developing institutional forms ===

In 2001, the annual summit returned to Shanghai and the group was institutionalized.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=95}} The five member nations first admitted [[Uzbekistan]] in the Shanghai Five mechanism.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=95}} On 15 June 2001, all six heads of state signed  the ''Declaration of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation'', praising the role played thus far by the Shanghai Five mechanism and aiming to transform it to a higher level of cooperation.<ref name="about-sco" /> From 2001 to 2008, the SCO developed rapidly, establishing a number of permanent bodies and ''ad hoc'' initiatives dealing with economic and security matters.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=95}}

In June 2002, the heads of the SCO member states met in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia and signed the ''SCO Charter'' which expounded on the organisation's purposes, principles, structures and forms of operation. It entered into force on 19 September 2003.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation |url=http://eng.sectsco.org/about_sco/20170109/190857.html |publisher=Shanghai Cooperation Organization Secretariat. |access-date=5 July 2023 |archive-date=5 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705162001/http://eng.sectsco.org/about_sco/20170109/190857.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In July 2005, at the summit in [[Astana]], Kazakhstan, with representatives of India, Iran, [[Mongolia]] and Pakistan attending an SCO summit for the first time, [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]], the president of the Kazakhstan, greeted the guests in words that had never been used before in any context: "The leaders of the states sitting at this negotiation table are representatives of half of humanity".<ref>Kazinform, 5 July 2005.</ref>

By 2007, the SCO had initiated over twenty large-scale projects related to transportation, energy and telecommunications and held regular meetings of security, military, defence, foreign affairs, economic, cultural, banking, and other officials from its member states.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Agostinis|first1=Giovanni|last2=Urdinez|first2=Francisco|date=20 October 2021|title=The Nexus between Authoritarian and Environmental Regionalism: An Analysis of China's Driving Role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2021.1974887|journal=Problems of Post-Communism|volume=69 |issue=4–5 |pages=330–344|doi=10.1080/10758216.2021.1974887|s2cid=239486136|issn=1075-8216|hdl=11585/909383|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

In July 2015, in [[Ufa]], Russia, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members. In June 2016 in [[Tashkent]], both signed the memorandum of obligations, thereby starting the process of joining the SCO.<ref name=IndPakMemo>{{cite news|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/1129533/india-pakistan-edge-closer-joining-sco-security-bloc/|title=India, Pakistan edge closer to joining SCO security bloc|date=24 June 2016|access-date=24 June 2016|agency=Agence France-Presse|via=[[The Express Tribune]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625124459/http://tribune.com.pk/story/1129533/india-pakistan-edge-closer-joining-sco-security-bloc/|archive-date=25 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 2017, at a summit in Kazakhstan, India and Pakistan officially joined SCO as full members.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bhattacherjee |first=Kallol |date=9 June 2017 |title=India, Pakistan become full members of SCO |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-pakistan-become-full-members-of-shanghai-cooperation-organisation-sco/article62067467.ece |access-date=11 April 2023 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pakistan's Membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – Ministry of Foreign Affairs |date=9 June 2017 |url=https://mofa.gov.pk/pakistans-membership-of-the-shanghai-cooperation-organization-sco/ |access-date=11 April 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2004, the SCO established relations with the [[United Nations]] (where it is an observer in the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]]), the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] in 2005, the [[Association of Southeast Asian Nations]] (ASEAN) in 2005, the [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]] in 2007, the [[Economic Cooperation Organization]] in 2007, the [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]] in 2011, the [[Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia]] (CICA) in 2014, and the [[United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific]] (ESCAP) in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eng.sectsco.org/cooperation/|title=External communication|publisher=Shanghai Cooperation Organisation|access-date=9 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170605174306/http://eng.sectsco.org/cooperation/|archive-date=5 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> in 2018, SCO [[Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure]] (RATS) has established relations with the [[African Union]]'s African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofislamabad.com/12-Dec-2018/au-sco-anti-terror-organs-sign-cooperation-deal-on-fighting-terrorism|title=AU, SCO anti-terror organs sign cooperation deal on fighting terrorism|work=Times of Islamabad|access-date=16 December 2018|date=12 December 2018}}</ref>