Saudi Arabia came one step closer this week to joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a formidable bloc of Eurasian states led by Russia and China.
On March 28, Riyadh approved a memorandum to begin the process of joining the SCO as a “dialogue partner,” according to the Saudi Press Agency. Dialogue partner status is generally seen as a first step toward full membership in the regional bloc.
The oil-rich kingdom has been a key U.S. ally in the Middle East for decades. The move, therefore, is likely to prompt Western fears of a Saudi shift into the Russian–Chinese orbit.
Saudi accession to the SCO reflects Riyadh’s pursuit of a “more balanced foreign policy,” professor Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, a Turkish political analyst who heads the Ankara Center for Crisis and Policy (ANKASAM), told The Epoch Times. “In recent years, Saudi foreign policy has sought to prioritize the Eastern World.”
When asked about the move by Riyadh, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times, “We would defer to the Saudi government to discuss the formalization of its SCO dialogue partner status.”
World’s Largest Regional Bloc
The SCO was founded by Moscow and Beijing in 2001 with the goal of countering perceived Western influence in the Eurasian region. Founding members include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.In 2017, India and Pakistan both joined the organization—despite their historical rivalry—as full-fledged members, bringing the total number of SCO-affiliated nuclear powers to four.
Headquartered in Beijing, the SCO is the world’s largest regional bloc in terms of population and geographical scope. Its current members collectively account for some 40 percent of the world’s population, 60 percent of the Eurasian land mass, and a third of global gross domestic product.
Last year, a high-ranking Belarusian defense official noted that half the world’s 10 largest armies—in terms of overall troop strength—were accounted for by SCO member states.
A close ally of Moscow, Belarus is slated to become a full SCO member later this year.
On March 29, New Delhi hosted a meeting of SCO security chiefs, including Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian Security Council.
According to press reports, meeting participants discussed regional efforts to combat terrorism, smuggling, and transnational crime. They also discussed perceived security threats emanating from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Speaking in New Delhi, Patrushev blamed “Washington and its allies” for the “critical situation” in Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal from that country in 2021.
Reflecting the SCO’s military dimension, he described the return of U.S. or NATO military assets to Afghanistan—or its neighbors—as “categorically inadmissible.”
Notably, the SCO coordinates its activities with the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-led military alliance of six Eurasian countries.
In August, SCO member states will take part in extensive joint security exercises in Russia’s central west Chelyabinsk region.
Expanding Membership
Saudi Arabia isn’t the only U.S. ally seeking SCO membership. Last year, Egypt and Qatar also joined the Eurasian bloc as dialogue partners.Egypt has been a leading recipient of U.S. financial and military aid since 1979, when it became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel. Qatar, meanwhile, is home to U.S. Central Command’s (CENTCOM) forward headquarters.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has voiced hope of seeing his country—a dialogue partner since 2013—become a full-fledged SCO member. Full membership in the regional bloc, he said, would bring Turkey’s relations with SCO member states “to the next level.”
Erdogan made the remark after attending an SCO summit held last September in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. The event was attended by leaders of all member states, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.
Turkey, however, is also a longstanding member of the Western NATO alliance. If it were to become a full SCO member, it would be the first NATO ally to do so.
ANKASAM’s Erol says it’s “natural” for Ankara to cooperate “with both Asia-based organizations and with Western ones.”
Turkey, he said, pursues a “multifaceted and balanced foreign policy, and its relations with the SCO can be viewed in this context.”
He went on to stress, however, that the SCO is “not an alternative to NATO.”
He also dismissed the likelihood of Turkey joining the Eurasian bloc as a full-fledged member—at least in the short term.
“This doesn’t seem possible under current conditions,” he said. “It’s not on Turkey’s agenda right now.”
Geopolitical Realignments
Iran was promoted to an SCO dialogue partner at last year’s summit in Samarkand after having held observer status since 2005. A close ally of Russia, Iran is expected to become a full member of the organization in April.On March 10, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic ties after years of mutual hostility, including full-blown proxy conflicts in Syria and Yemen. The agreement was brokered by SCO leader China, while Washington was largely uninvolved in the talks that led to the deal.
Erol sees this as further proof that the focus of Saudi foreign policy is “shifting eastward.” It is also a sign, he believes, of “China’s growing weight in the region.”
There have also been reports that Riyadh is mulling a resumption of ties with the Syrian government. Shunned by the West and its allies since 2011, Damascus enjoys the staunch support of both Moscow and Tehran.
Turkey, too, is now in the process of normalizing ties with Syria in a reconciliation process brokered by Moscow.
According to Erol, these geopolitical realignments reflect waning U.S. influence in the region—a vacuum that he says risks being filled by “other powers.”
“But they also present the United States with an opportunity to reexamine its policies,” he added, “and adopt a fresh approach to the region.”
