Is The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Becoming A Counterbalance To Nato?

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Tajikistan Hosts China And Russia Lead Military Exercises -- The Telegraph

Senior Russian and Chinese generals have flown into Tajikistan ahead of joint military exercises, an alliance which analysts suggest could one day rival Nato.

Of the five former Soviet Central Asian states, only isolationist Turkmenistan is not a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the group named after the city where it was set up in 2001.

China’s state newspaper, People’s Daily, reported that Chen Bingde, the highest ranked general in China had flown into Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, on June 5 after bilateral visits to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

The SCO militaries are due to play out a counter terrorism exercise in Tajiksitan between June 8 and 14, according to media reports.

Over the past few years China has strengthened its interests in Central Asia.

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My Comment: Turkmenistan has always had an independent streak and a strong desire to stay away from the problems that many of it's neighbors are experiencing. But like anyone else, Chinese and Russian aid is seductive, and I expect that this assistance will have strings attached.

As to the suggestion that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is evolving into a counterbalance to Nato .... that is something that we will have to wait and see.