The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO or Shanghai Pact), formerly known as the Shanghai Five (the name changed in 2001 as a result of Uzbekistan joining and its membership count growing beyond five) is an international political alliance and mutual security organization consisting of the People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The organization started in April 26, 1996 as a result of the signing of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions by the heads of state of the People's Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Subsequent meetings were held in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikstan until 2001, when the group returned to Shanghai and admitted Uzbekistan as a new member. On June 15, 2001, all six heads of its member states signed the Declaration of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, praising its role thus far and seeking to tighten cooperation between its members.
In June 2002, the membership tour came full circle in St. Petersburg, with the signing of the SCO charter, which expounded on the organizations purposes, principles, structures and form of operation, and made its status in international law clear. Its main job is to promote cooperation among Asian nations and stop the growing United States influence in Asia in the aftermath of 9/11.
The SCO in fiction
The SCO has been surprisingly underused as a source of plots by Speculative Fiction, though references to the Sino-Russian alliances are sometimes made, independent of reference to any Central Asian country. However, groups like an "Asian Commonwealth" (which, for some reason, seems largely to consist of East Asia) have popped up in fiction, and bear similarities to the SCO.
Perhaps inspired by this, The BBC once referred to the SCO as "the most important international organisation you've never heard of".
- The Human Reform League in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 could be seen as having evolved from the SCO, considering how Russia, China and India (which will join SCO in 2017) are the leading players there.
- The SCO, along with NATO and an Islamic Alliance, is one of the three alliances in Modern Day Scenario II, replacing the Axis.
- Judging by the makeup of the OPFOR in Project Reality, it is possible that it includes SCO nations, though there has been hot dispute over Russia's status in the game's storyline.
- Later updates introduced maps where China fights Russia, so it is likely the SCO is disbanded, or Russia and/or China are no longer members.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II, features the SDC (Strategic Defence Coalition), a speculative future version of the SCO that grew into an aggressive military alliance, composed of the existing SCO countries and several others. They are locked in a new Cold War with the US over rare earth elements, and its Chairman Tian Zhao seeks to bully Russia, Afghanistan, India, and Iran into pledging their military forces to his own.
- The Russian and Chinese-lead Red Star Alliance are stated to have formed from the SCO in Frontlines: Fuel of War.
- ArmA 3, features another SCO-inspired alliance called Canton Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty (CSAT) that mainly comprises of China, Iran, Belarus and various North African countries. Russia itself wasn't officially a member, but has official defense arrangements with the alliance and were in talks for possible future admission.
