India, NATO and the SCO: Why the South Asian Country Should Convene a Dialogue between Both Organizations

New Delhi would be able to dispel negative international impressions of its seeming mixed feelings towards the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and re-affirm global faith towards India as a champion of unity and non-alignment.

July 2024 witnessed two major gatherings of world leaders. Kazakhstan hosted the 24th SCO Summit in its capital, Astana, from Jul. 3 to Jul. 4. This was followed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Washington DC from Jul. 9 to Jul. 11, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the alliance’s establishment in 1949. Both summits were convened to reaffirm cooperation amongst countries within the non-Western and Western blocs respectively for world peace and development. 

However, neither summit is arguably effective in working towards global peace. Firstly, membership expansions by both NATO and the SCO in recent years have led to a more polarized world order. Finland and Sweden ceased decades of their statuses as internationally neutral states to join NATO in 2023 and 2024 respectively in the aftermath of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Belarus became the SCO’s newest member when it officially joined the organization at the 2024 Astana Summit, while Iran, an adversary of the Western bloc, gained SCO membership in 2023.

Secondly, actions by the member states of NATO and the SCO, motivated by self-interests, are threatening global security. Where NATO is concerned, it is a clear demonstration of the alliance’s double standards when the bloc unequivocally condemned Russia for the war in Ukraine but failed to hold Israel accountable for its destructive military campaign in Gaza. China and Russia are embroiled in the South China Sea dispute  and Ukraine conflict respectively with the SCO failing to censure both countries for their roles in the crises.

Nevertheless, the present tumultuous geopolitical landscape serves as an excellent opportunity for the world’s most populous country India – an SCO member state that is friendly to NATO – to organize a gathering that brings both groups together for dialogue to manage their differences. India would dispel the potential negative impression of the international community towards it concerning New Delhi’s seemingly mixed feelings about the SCO. In return, India would be rewarded with global praise as it conveys a positive impression as a champion of unity and non-alignment that is successful in setting the path to neutralize international division risks and push both organizations forward for world peace.

Why India should convene the meeting

In recent times, India has exhibited behavior that demonstrated seeming ambivalence towards the SCO. The 2024 Astana summit saw the absence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with his External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar representing the South Asian country at the event. During India’s 2023 Chairmanship of the SCO, New Delhi chose to convene the organization’s annual meeting in a virtual format instead of a physical gathering. Such a move could be attributed to India not wanting to exacerbate its long-standing tense ties with fellow SCO member states China and Pakistan, and New Delhi’s challenge of maintaining good relations with both SCO member state Russia, on which India is dependent for energy, and the NATO countries amidst the Ukraine conflict.

However, the recent seeming display of ambivalence by New Delhi may cast doubt on India’s commitment towards its SCO membership. India’s tensions with Beijing and Islamabad would continue without major effective efforts at resolution. Worse, Prime Minister Modi’s warm meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow came just after the Indian leader’s skipping of the Astana SCO gathering. The fact that it also coincided with the Washington DC NATO summit may spark concern from both NATO and SCO member states that India has swung into the orbit of Russia’s influence. New Delhi’s friends in NATO might become anxious as the organization’s members could interpret the close India-Russian relationship as an infringement on the Western bloc’s interests such as the situation in Ukraine. The dialogue would be an excellent opportunity for India to demonstrate its sincerity for regional peace at the event with New Delhi’s tensions concerning China and Pakistan highly recommended to be listed on the agenda. 

SCO member countries would be further convinced of India’s willingness to mend its negative image of perceived ambivalence towards the SCO owing to Prime Minister Modi’s prior absence in the 2024 Astana summit and the virtual format of the 2023 SCO meeting. The inclusion of discussions that feature India’s disputes with Beijing and Islamabad would prove to the SCO member countries that New Delhi remains committed to the organization as it is serious about finding resolutions to issues that threaten the security of Asia with regards to its two major adversaries China and Pakistan. The country would benefit through the aforementioned diplomatic maneuver by reasserting its image as the regional power of South Asia, albeit with the capacity to conduct diplomacy for the beneficial cause of peace and earning the respect of fellow SCO member countries. 

Aside from alleviating SCO concerns about its perceived ambivalence towards the organization and NATO’s worries of it favoring Russia at the expense of Western interests, New Delhi should convene a dialogue between NATO and SCO to reassure both organizations that India is not aligned to any geopolitical bloc, and is competent in laying the groundwork for mitigating international divisions.

India could arguably be regarded as a champion of uniting countries for common causes and non-alignment in recorded contemporary history. New Delhi hosted the inaugural Asian Relations Conference in 1947 as a message to the international community that with the end of World War II and numerous Asian countries engaged in liberation conflicts with their former European colonial masters, Asia is “awake” and is capable of being a significant player on the world stage. India was also one of the attendees at the 1955 Bandung conference in Indonesia which served as the foundation for the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) – an organization of countries not siding with either the Western or anti-Western camps during the Cold War, with India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru present at the inaugural 1961 NAM summit in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

With New Delhi having made its positive presence felt in two tumultuous periods of contemporary history, namely the decolonization of Asia in the immediate aftermath of World War II and the Cold War, it should seize the opportunity yet again to make another positive impression on the global stage by initiating a dialogue between NATO and the SCO amidst international geopolitical divisions involving countries of both organizations. During the dialogue proceedings, it would be prudent for New Delhi not to interfere in the discussions nor permit the NATO or SCO member countries to subject the South Asian country to their views or bring India into their orbit of influence. Should the proposed dialogue materialize, this principle would reaffirm the international community’s faith in India living up to its historical track record of advocating unity and neutrality in world affairs with the sole mission of getting partner countries to endeavor for global peace.

The present international geopolitical landscape is in a tumultuous situation, exacerbated by the acts of NATO and the SCO’s member states. Nevertheless, it serves as an excellent opportunity for India to convene a physical dialogue to bring countries in NATO and the SCO together for discussions on resolutions to the conflicts. Such an initiative would mitigate the unfavorable image of New Delhi’s seeming ambivalence within the SCO and India to live up to its record again as a champion of global unity and non-alignment for the neutralization of risks in a divided world.

[Photo by Prime Minister’s Office, India, via Wikimedia Commons]

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.