In the face of US President Donald Trump’s increasingly acrimonious position on issues such as trade, to name one instance, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit—to be hosted in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Thursday—has gained in relevance for India. This is rather ironic given that the US was viewing India as a bulwark against China in the region. Having begun as the Shanghai Five in 1996 and rechristened as the SCO in 2001, the member states occupy the huge landmass adjacent to India’s extended neighbourhood where India has both economic and security imperatives. That has been remedied to a large extent by the formation of the SCO, to which India was admitted as a full member in 2017. The summit represents a structured forum where India can leverage its interests that would help it both on the domestic and the international front.

Source: Mint June 12, 2019 14:03 UTC