The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) expanded its regional security role across Eurasia in 2025. Its focus on terrorism, separatism, and extremism framed as the “three evils” has fostered unprecedented coordination among members. Central to this effort is the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), serving as the SCO’s operational hub.
During the 25th Heads of State Council meeting in Tianjin, China, heads of state unanimously renewed support for counterterrorism, in the wake of attacks such as the April 2025 Pahalgam attack in India, where 26 civilians died. That attack served as a point of reference for increased dialogue within SCO, and it strengthened the call for concerted response. Chinese President Xi Jinping, summit chairman, stressed that the group needs to improve intelligence sharing, synchrony of law, and operational capacity to fight more transnational threats.
China’s continued chairmanship included four new security coordination centers focused on cybercrime, cross-border trafficking, and organized extremism. They are connected to traditional defense and law enforcement systems while also enabling connectivity through economic activities like the Belt and Road Initiative. Greater convergence between economic growth and security policy is becoming a hallmark of the SCO’s regional resilience model.
Joint Operations As A Catalyst For Cooperative Security
RATS has been leading SCO’s operationalization of its anti-terror agenda. More than 73 terror networks have been busted and nearly 70 plots foiled by member states in the past year alone. Such success emanates from the synergetic impacts of joint drills, immediate intelligence exchange, and cross-border surveillance operations.
SCO officials point to a dramatic increase in cases of coordinated prosecution and arrest, with legal convergence among jurisdictions having enhanced mutual legal assistance. Depth of operational cooperation was seen in the 2025 “Peace Shield” joint exercises involving counterinsurgency training in diverse terrain in Central Asia, enhancing preparedness against non-traditional threats.
The head of RATS, Ularbek Sharsheev, stressed that containment from the root of foreign terrorist fighters is on the top of the agenda. The element of preemptive attacks and mutual watchlists illustrates how the SCO is competing to get ahead of the adaptive strategies embraced by extremist movements.
Tensions Within A Multilateral Framework
Despite growing effectiveness, joint operations remain marked by internal differences. India refused, in mid-2025, to sign on to some SCO statements–namely, those that failed to include explicit mention of the Pahalgam attack–betraying the fact that there are underlying geopolitical tensions. If disagreements on wording of condemnation betray how national interests complicate the projection of a single narrative.,.
These tensions spot the contradictory nature of the SCO as both a bloc of cooperation and a platform upon which strategic suspicion periodically erupts. Experts describe the challenge of maintaining operational consistency without negating national sovereignty and disregarding asymmetrical threat perceptions.
Expanding Mandates Beyond Kinetic Operations
The SCO’s 2025 operations mark a shift from purely tactical approaches to broader, systemic engagements with the roots of extremism. Newly formed centers are addressing drug trafficking and digital extremism, recognizing the interplay between crime, poverty, and ideological radicalization.
This expansion is informed by the understanding that modern terrorism is deeply embedded in virtual platforms. The 2024 Global Counter Cyberterrorism Pact, although outside the SCO framework, has influenced member states to adopt uniform cybersecurity measures. The RATS now engages with digital platforms to preemptively identify radical content, blocking over 6,000 sites linked to extremist narratives since January.
Security Through Development And Connectivity
China’s integration of SCO security goals with Belt and Road investments underscores a shift toward sustainable peace through infrastructure. The concept of “small and beautiful” projects—livelihood-based infrastructure in vulnerable areas—is a key part of the 2025 development-security nexus.
President Xi Jinping stated during the summit that these initiatives have turned “borders from barriers into bridges.” In practice, these projects seek to counter radicalization by addressing economic grievances, which often serve as a breeding ground for extremist recruitment. By linking investment and counterterrorism, the SCO is attempting to institutionalize peacebuilding within its core structure.
Persistence Of Strategic Complexities And External Factors
The SCO spans a huge and diverse geopolitical terrain, bringing together states with varying political systems, threat perceptions, and regional interests. China and Russia are likely to be in sync on broad security objectives, but Indian strategic autonomy and Central Asia’s regional concerns introduce complexities in consensus forging.
The involvement of observer states and dialogue partners such as Iran, Belarus, and Turkiye creates an additional aspect of diplomatic management. These nations typically support SCO initiatives but assign differing priorities concerning implementation, particularly in terms of political control and sovereignty.
External Perceptions And Geopolitical Competition
Global observers view growing assertiveness of SCO security efforts with cautious interest. Western commentators tend to characterize SCO maneuvers as measures for regime security institutionalization rather than responding to terrorism issues themselves. The lack of autonomous transparency mechanisms for SCO activities has drawn the concern of human rights organizations, particularly civil liberties and due process in counterterrorist action.
However, member states argue that Eurasian regional security dynamics are qualitatively distinct from Western ideals of alliance systems. SCO presents itself as a non-interference and respect-based alternative multilateral institution, as it learns to accept criticisms coming from the outside world.
Digital-Era Challenges And Public Diplomacy
The cyber domain has become central to SCO’s counterterrorism toolkit in 2025. Extremist groups have shifted recruitment and propaganda online, often leveraging encrypted platforms and AI-generated content. Member states have intensified surveillance of such platforms, employing machine learning to track emerging threats and predictive patterns.
However, digital legal frameworks remain uneven across the region. The need for harmonized legislation has become increasingly urgent, as inconsistencies hinder rapid enforcement. Countries like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have led regional consultations on aligning their digital security codes, with support from RATS experts.
Shaping Narratives And Public Perception
Narrative management has become integral to SCO’s security architecture. Public communications from RATS and national agencies highlight successful joint operations, aiming to reassure domestic audiences while deterring potential threats. These narratives also serve to build cohesion across member states, projecting unity amid diverse political structures.
This individual has made comments on this subject positing that the joint operation of the SCO equation is redefining security dynamics in the region and re-assembling cooperation dynamics even with their complex bilateral differences:
The SCO’s conveyed capacity to portray itself as both a steward of regional security and a promoter of stability ultimately relies on its long-term narrative strategy. Analysts perceive this strategy as a dual-track; combating extremist ideologies in one vein and legitimizing the SCO in the other.
The switch in SCO’s anti-terrorism methodology in 2025 represents a complex security transition. From tactical cohesion to strategic cohesion of the digital and development domains, is constructing a state-centric multilateral model that has yet to be mirrored by other systems. The group’s capacity to mediate divided zones of collective representation, continue its trajectory against new security threats, and confirm legitimacy within a regional and global context, will determine its positioning in the future. SCO’s age-defying architecture of security may be the true definition of Eurasia’s stability in the years to come.
