Mutual cooperation and perhaps mutual distrust

By Dale McFeatters

For all but geopolitical wonks, the formation of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2001 went largely unnoticed.

That's despite the SCO claiming to account for 60 percent of the landmass of Eurasia and a quarter of the world's population. With its "observer members" and "dialogue partners," it claims to account for half of the human race.

Those ambitious claims deserve some scrutiny. The SCO is basically China and Russia plus the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

China accounts for most of the people, Russia's Siberia for much of the landmass and the others, well, Tajikistan's population is just over 7.6 million. The observer members include, perhaps with varying degrees of enthusiasm, Mongolia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

Belarus and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners. (One is reminded of that great Cold War alliance between China and Albania when both were on the outs with the Soviet Union.)

Their stated goals, which are hard to argue with, are mutual investment, economic development and security. Russia and China make no secret that the organization is meant to counteract U.S. influence in the region.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks often of a "Eurasian Union" stretching from Europe to the Pacific, presumably with Russia at its head. But under the old maxim of "Hold your friends close and your enemies closer," it's hard to dispel the notion that Russia is doing this to keep an eye on China.

China's population is growing rapidly, putting a great strain on its resources, and its industries are desperate for raw materials. Russia shares a 2,600-mile border with China. The Russian Far East is resource-rich, but it is losing population, down 20 percent since the fall of the Soviet Union.

At a meeting of the SCO in St. Petersburg, Putin announced Monday that Russia would put in $500 million toward a $2 billion electric transmission line from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The project had been shelved because of the unrest and instability in Afghanistan. Putin explained, without elaboration: "Considering the improvement of the situation there, we could renew the project."

He neglected to thank the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for that improvement. Apparently not all U.S. influence in the region merits counteracting by the SCO.

Dale McFeatters is an editorial writer of Scripps Howard News Service (www.scrippsnews.com).