On Thursday 27 September 2007 Oksana Antonenko, Senior fellow (Russia and Eurasia), IISS and Roger N McDermott, Senior Fellow in Eurasian Military Studies, Jamestown Foundation, Washington DC, will lead a discussion meeting on "The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation and Sino-Russian Strategic Rapprochement" from 1.30-2.30pm.
In August military exercises "Peace Mission 2007" and the 6th summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, which has declared its aim to expand energy co-operation, signalled the growing strategic role of Russia and China in the wider Central Asia. The recent opinion poll in Russia placed China for the first time among Russia’s most trusted friends and allies. During the last SCO manoeuvres the Chinese troops were for the first time invited in large numbers to exercises in Russia. The two countries increasingly cooperate in the Security Council and share a common world view on multi-polar world and in opposition to the US democracy promotion agenda. What does this Sino-Russian strategic rapprochement means for both countries, for Central Asia and for the West?
Roger N McDermott is a Senior Fellow in Eurasian Military Studies, Jamestown Foundation, Washington DC & Honorary Senior Fellow, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Kent at Canterbury (UK). McDermott has served as an advisor on theses written by Central Asian military officers at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He specialises in the study of military and security issues in Central Asia. He is also a member of the editorial boards of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Sweden, and The Caucasus and Globalisation, Baku. He edited Responding to Terrorism and Other New Threats and Challenges in Central Asia and Afghanistan, Royal Institute for International Affairs, London, June 2006 and co-edited (with Anne C Aldis) Russian Military Reform 1992-2002, Routledge, London, 2003.
Oksana Antonenko is Senior Fellow and Programme Director for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Ms Antonenko oversees various projects on security issues in Russia, Central Asia, South Caucasus and Western NIS states. Her recent publications include: Russia and the Deadlock Over Kosovo
Survival Vol. 49 no.3 Autumn 2007, pp.91-106;
Russia, Central Asia and the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation Russian Analytical Digest no 25, 17 July 2007;
Central Asian Energy: Has Moscow played its trump card? Strategic Comments Volume 13, issue 5, June 2007;
The EU should not ignore the Shanghai Co-operation Oganisation, Centre for European Reform Policy Brief, May 11 2007.
This meeting will take place on the Fifth Floor at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX.
If you would like to attend this meeting, please RSVP Kathleen James on E-mail:
james@iiss.org or Tel: 020 7395 9109.
