Shanghai Five: Emerging Foreign Policy Dimensions
12 Jul, 2001 · 521
PA Mathew says Shanghai Five can help in containing Islamic terrorism and promoting cooperation between China and Central Asian Republics
Across the centuries fundamentalist movements among religions have made a deadly compact for power, land and souls. The late twentieth century has also seen a global resurgence of religion. That resurgence has involved an intensification of religious consciousness and the rise of fundamentalist movements.
Yugoslavia , creating new states out of the wreckage of the old. Coming together of major powers like China and Russia and other Central Asian republics in a grouping called the Shanghai Five (now six with the addition of Uzbekistan) comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, is intended to counter the rising Islamic militancy and fundamentalism in the region.
Shanghai in 1996. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s {SCO} inaugural declaration and treaty emphasised a crackdown on terrorism, separatism and extremism. In the 1980’s and 1990’s the overall trend in Islam has been anti-western in orientation. In part, this is the natural consequence of Islamic resurgence and its reaction against the corrupting influence of western culture in their local society, politics and morals. The fundamentalists see western culture as materialistic, corrupt, decadent and immoral. The rise of Taliban and other fundamentalist Imams are predictable spin offs from this thinking.
Soviet Union and Open door policy followed by
China ushered a capricious and opaque environment and uncertainty in the region. Comparable mixes of factors have led to the rise of Islamic extremism in these areas. Firstly, the Muslim population growth has generated a large number of unemployed and disgruntled young people who become easy recruits to Islamic causes because of the failure of the State to provide them jobs. Secondly, victory of the Taliban in
Afghanistan has made the fundamentalist Muslims renew their confidence in the distinctive character and worth of their civilization compared to the exiting ones. Thirdly, years of war in the region has made the availability of arms easier, which adds a new dimension to the problem. Porous borders and a vulnerable population increased the uncertainties in the region. It has also compounded the worries of the leaders regarding the alarming dimensions of Islamic extremism. The coming together of various leaders in the Shanghai Five is designed to counter this strategic vulnerability.
China as an important power in world affairs adds to its responsibilities to meet the problem of Islamic militancy in its backyard. The Xinjiang
province of
China has been a breeding ground for terrorism, separatism, and extremism. Although the coastal region of
China has recorded a remarkable success story, the development has not diffused to interior areas like the Xinjiang province.
China ’s foreign policy has been that alliances are useful and sometimes essential. Mutual advantage distinguishes the alliances and the Shanghai Five is based on this concept.
China also hopes to engage
Russia through this forum in its rivalry against US. By increasing cooperation with the
Central
Asian
Republics ,
China hopes to exploit the economic potential of these countries rather than leave the field open to western countries.
Islam – the fastest growing religion in the world, is going through a churning process.Samuel. P. Huntington in his book ‘The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order’ mentions that the dynamism of Islam is the ongoing source of many relatively small fault-line wars around the world. At the local or micro level, fault line conflicts occur between neighboring states, between groups within states and, as in
The Shanghai Five process began in
Break up of the
The spirit and principles of the Shanghai Five brings into focus their deepening military trust. It envisages a reduction in troops and greater cooperation in military matters. The emergence of
A corner stone of
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will be a means by which bilateral relations are developed, regional cooperation enhanced and multi polarisation promoted. However, upper-most in the agenda will be tackling Islamic fundamentalism. With a coherent policy, which includes a common approach, exchange of information and dogged persistence, extremist organizations that trigger unrest and violence in the region can be arrested. But there is no gainsaying the fact that the daunting task of the government will be to provide more jobs, reduce embezzlement of public funds by the corrupt bureaucracy and unscrupulous politicians and increase public support. Only these measures could provide a permanent solution to the problem of Islamic fundamentalism.
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