China's SCO diplomacy: creating a parallel world order?

Abstract

As a political, economic and security organisation, the SCO could be a useful instrument for China to promote an alternative to the western-led international order. The entry of Iran into the SCO has the potential to enhance the strategic value of the organisation. But the lack of cohesion among SCO member countries would hold back China’s efforts to use the SCO to pose a serious challenge to the extant international order.