BAKU — September 3, 2025.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is evolving from a dialogue platform into a venue where major non-Western powers coordinate strategy and signal influence, according to comments by diplomat and analyst Yunis Qurbanov on the YouTube program “Novosti Kavkaza”.
Qurbanov said the Beijing events underscored that the post-unipolar era is taking shape “in practice, not theory,” as China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin used the summit to showcase high-level engagement. For Moscow in particular, he argued, the images conveyed that “Russia is not isolated.”
While the SCO is not a military bloc, Qurbanov described it as a “marketplace of influence,” where India and China court partners and smaller states hedge. Countries with divergent systems and values “align around interests—chiefly, diversifying away from Western-centric institutions,” he said.
On China’s role, Qurbanov pointed to long-horizon, economics-first statecraft—credit, infrastructure and industrial projects across Central Asia and the Caspian—with political leverage following investment. He expects Beijing’s capital presence to expand in Azerbaijan, Georgia and, conditions permitting, Armenia, especially around Middle Corridor logistics.
For the South Caucasus, he urged multi-vector diplomacy: engaging the U.S. and EU while participating in SCO processes. He also backed deeper regional formats—Azerbaijan-Georgia-Türkiye today, potentially including Armenia later—arguing that negotiating as a Caspian-plus region strengthens leverage with major powers.
What’s next: whether the SCO remains a broad coordination forum or hardens into overlapping camps; how far China translates economic reach into standard-setting; and how South Caucasus states balance Western ties with SCO engagement without triggering red lines.
Source: Novosti Kavkaza (in Russian). Full video here
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