Although the SCO cannot eliminate the underlying strategic competition between China and India, it provides a framework to manage tensions and expand areas of cooperation in an otherwise challenging relationship
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), founded jointly by China and Russia and later expanded to include India, remains a critical platform shaping relations between Beijing and New Delhi. While the two Asian powers continue to navigate strategic rivalry, the SCO has evolved into an important mechanism for dialogue, confidence building and indirect foreign-policy management.
For China, the SCO is a geopolitical instrument that supports its vision of a non-Western international order and anchors its engagement with Russia in Central Asia. For India, the organisation offers a balancing tool—ensuring that the regional environment does not tilt overwhelmingly toward Beijing while allowing New Delhi to influence Eurasian affairs.
The SCO provides structured avenues for bilateral discussions among defence and foreign ministers alongside its multilateral summits. It also reinforces shared public commitments to a multipolar world, a theme emphasised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping during the 2025 summit in Tianjin.
- Critically, the SCO serves as a large-scale confidence-building measure by reducing mutual suspicion and signalling that neither side seeks absolute dominance
- China’s acceptance of India’s membership in 2017 was interpreted as a willingness to include India in Eurasian policymaking, while India’s participation indicated that it does not aim to join any anti-China coalition
The organisation’s consensus-based decision-making grants each member effective veto power, indirectly constraining unilateral moves by either China or India. For New Delhi, SCO’s implicit anti-US overtones complicate close alignment with Washington, functioning as a form of institutional balancing. For Beijing, the group’s focus on countering terrorism makes its support for Pakistan more politically costly.
Russia plays a pivotal mediating role within the SCO, offering both sides a stabilising presence and influencing policy alignment. Moscow’s diplomatic engagement was visible during the 2020 border crisis, where it facilitated dialogue between China and India.
Emerging proposals such as an SCO development bank and new centres for digital economy, energy and green industries could add an economic pillar to China–India relations if implemented effectively. These initiatives may expand trade and investment opportunities, complementing the SCO’s political and security roles.
