Ahead of the SCO’s Samarkand Summit, some countries are trying to interpret the SCO as an anti-Western bloc. This does not meet Uzbekistan’s interests, says the political scientist, Kamoliddin Rabbimov.
Russia and China, the two largest members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, do not have warm relations with the West. The same can be said about Belarus and Iran, which have observer status in the organization.
There is a possibility that the SCO Summit to be held in Samarkand on August 15-16 could serve for further global polarization with the efforts of some countries, which is not in the interests of Uzbekistan. Political analyst Kamoliddin Rabbimov mentioned told Kun.uz ahead of the Summit.
"There is ongoing major war between Ukraine and Russia for half a year. Today, Russia's geopolitical strategy collides with the full-fledged, systemic West. But China's relations with the West are connected, that is, it is impossible to call it a one-sided conflict. However, the trade and economic cooperation of the collective West with China is very tight.
Based on this, it is possible to expect Russia's tendency to give the summit in Samarkand an ideological tone as much as possible and to turn it into a collective anti-Western, first of all, anti-American political-psychological and informational campaign.
If we observe the Russian mass media today, they are paying serious attention to the Samarkand summit, and all member states of this organization are trying to spread their anti-Western stance as much as possible. This is not in the interest of the Central Asian countries.
In the next six years, Uzbekistan managed to form a multi-vector foreign policy course. Regardless of the relations of Moscow, Beijing or Washington, Brussels in the outside world, Uzbekistan does not intend to continue the black and white, dichotomy politics of the late president but the one based solely on its national interests. In the current period, a foreign policy with many and equal vectors has been formed. "Uzbekistan will probably continue this course," says the political scientist.
