IS REGIONAL COOPERATION POSSIBLE WITHOUT BILATERAL COOPERATION?

Abstract:

This paper argues that while regional cooperation is often viewed as a positive good, it is not sustainable in the long term without strong ties between its constituents. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization exemplifies this reality, given the significant and long-standing tensions between two of its members, India and China. The essay examines the contradictions in Sino-Indian relations and the difficulties in the Russia-India-China trilateral mechanism to underscore that the SCO’s progress is not what it seems. It raises some questions for the SCO and offers a set of recommendations to address, however indirectly, some of these challenges.

Keywords: bilateral relations, regional cooperation, India-China relationship, Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral, development model.