With the success of the recently concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Manila has every incentive to actively participate in the regional bloc and raise its level of relations with its member states.
Multilateralism in Afghanistan
Serving as a strong counterweight to Washington’s vision of a world led with its allies, SCO’s Dushanbe declaration puts great emphasis on the need for real multilateralism in resolving regional and international disputes.
One of the summit’s most significant gains is the SCO’s consensus that Islamabad coordinate with the Taliban on the formation of an inclusive government involving Tajiks, Uzbeks and Harazas.
This is an important development because it shows a consensual mechanism by a regional bloc seeking to influence the high-level policy of one of the SCO’s partners in order to ensure regional stability and inclusivity in governance.
The SCO’s multilateral action on Afghanistan is relevant to the Philippines as Manila continues to consider Islamist extremism as a serious national security threat despite the signing of a peace agreement between the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The country continues to reel from the effects of the Marawi Siege in 2017, in which a ragtag band of Islamic extremists laid to waste the Islamic City of Marawi in the southern island of Mindanao due to five months of intense fighting with government forces.
The regional bloc’s experience in with dealing security issues in Afghanistan will be very relevant for Manila’s strategic planning on containing extremism and terrorism in the country and the region, as it can provide valuable access to intelligence information, and prospective military contracts for equipment and weapons.
This is important in order to allow Manila to lead ASEAN in forming its own regional anti-terror structure and network based on real experience by various states in fighting extremism and terrorism.
Tehran rises
Another significant development in Dushanbe is the ascension of Iran as full member of the SCO. This comes after fifteen years of being an observer member and despite an unjust US sanctions regime crippling Tehran’s trade relations with the world.
Its status as an SCO full member implies that all member states make a commitment to stand in defense of Tehran against US sanctions even if doing so may expand the risk of sanctions to their own economies for dealing with Iran.
This neck-on-the-line diplomacy is in sharp contrast to Washington’s brand of supporting its allies, which in the case of the Philippines has been mostly empty diplomatese on defending the country in the event of an armed escalation in the South China Sea.
Moreover, its new SCO status allows greater economic integration and cooperation with regional bloc’s member states, especially major global economies such as Russia, China and China.
In fact, Tehran inked new deals with Tajikistan at $500 Million of annual bilateral trade, which is almost ten times higher than current levels.
Manila’s independent foreign policy
All of these fits squarely into the government’s commitment to pursuing an independent foreign policy, which had unfortunately been blunted by Malacanang’s decision to restore the PH-US Visiting Forces Agreement.
Joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization balances this, because it allows Manila to relate with different international actors on which mutually beneficial relations may be built, particularly on the areas of security and trade.
Initially, Manila can participate as a dialogue partner, which now includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt, joining Turkey, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, but as soon as more confidence and trust is built, it can proceed to become an observer member as well.
With the twin goals of further developing security and trade, there should be no doubt that pivoting towards Shanghai should figure into the country’s plans in international relations.