China, Russia: Interests Converge in Regional Blocs

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) concluded a two-day meeting July 10 in Ufa, Russia, just two days after the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in the same city. These meetings serve as a benchmark of evolving relations between China and Russia. The SCO, beginning as a forum to settle newly created borders after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, has expanded and redefined itself in recent years. China has steered the organization toward an economic grouping while Russia has emphasized the organization's political role and pushed for greater security cooperation.

The BRICS summit, however, is a much more recent invention. Beijing and Moscow established the summit to take advantage of shifting global economic and investment interest, hoping to appear as, if not become, an alternative to the global financial architecture dominated by the U.S. economy and dollar. Ultimately, both forums enable Russia and China to promote their individual regional interests and their combined interest in countering U.S. dominance in the international system.