The division of roles of China and Russia in the SCO: A strategy for balancing regional security and economic development

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) represents a unique platform for Eurasian interaction, focused on synchronizing regional security and economic progress. The central focus of the research is the strategic interaction between China and Russia within the SCO, where each country implements specialized functions based on competitive advantages. Russia, using its historical experience in geopolitical stability, concentrates on counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, and border strengthening. China, leveraging its economic potential, promotes projects in transport infrastructure, digitalization, and energy networks. The role of the SCO's "two-wheel model," which integrates security and economy into a unified management mechanism, is emphasized. Special attention is paid to the transformation of the organization into a tool for reshaping the global order through the lens of the interests of developing countries. The research combines qualitative analysis of SCO documents with a comparative study of the theoretical concepts of Yan Xuetong and A. Dugin. Case study methods and expert interviews are used to verify hypotheses. The study integrates Chinese and Russian theoretical paradigms for the first time to deconstruct the management model of the SCO. It is established that the complementarity of Moscow and Beijing's roles creates an innovative format of "asymmetric synergy," where the combination of power and economic resources minimizes competition and maximizes the organization's functionality. The scientific novelty manifests in the conceptualization of the SCO as a "hybrid institution" that transforms the norms of global governance through a balance of realism (security) and liberalism (development). Practical conclusions emphasize: 1) the effectiveness of the "two-wheel" model for integrating economies at different levels, and 2) the potential of the SCO as a laboratory for a post-Western world order, where national sovereignty and collective goods coexist. It is shown that the institutional flexibility of the SCO allows for the mitigation of contradictions between geopolitics and geo-economics, offering developing countries an algorithm for "soft balancing" against unipolarity.

SCO, China, Russia, strategic cooperation, balancing, consensus mechanisms, security, policy, economy, global governance