Expanding Geo-Political Options: Saudi Arabia Moves Closer to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

 

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Reuters has reported on another of the consequences of the closer ties between Saudi Arabia and China.  The well known one was the formal normalization of relations with Iran.  Perhaps more impactful was the announcement that Saudi Arabia has now been admitted as a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

As reported by Reuters:

RIYADH, March 29 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's cabinet approved on Wednesday a decision to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as Riyadh builds a long-term partnership with China despite U.S. security concerns. Saudi Arabia has approved a memorandum on granting the kingdom the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), state news agency SPA said. The SCO is a political and security union of countries spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia. (Riyadh joins Shanghai Cooperation Organization as ties with Beijing grow)

Dialogue Partners are the most modest level of formal engagement in the SCO.  "The status of Dialogue Partnership provides the third countries not having observer status with limited cooperation with the Organization in certain fields. This status is beyond “quest participants” and below “observer status” in terms of the degree of institutional ties with the Organization." (here).  Before the announcement about Saudi Arabia's new association, it was reported by the UN that

The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey). In 2021, the decision was made to start the accession process of Iran to the SCO as a full member, and Egypt, Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia became dialogue partners. (here).