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SCO expansion will shut out US leadership, democracy, and free trade
Brookes 6. (Peter, Sr. Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “Club For Dictators: An ugly agenda for Asia.” The Heritage Foundation. June 12, 2006. http://heritage.org/Research/Commentary/2006/06/Club-For-Dictators-An-ugly-agenda-for-Asia). LRH.
As Beijing and Moscow see it, keeping authoritarians in power in Central Asia (and elsewhere) not only ensures stability along the two powers' periphery, it also helps silence those annoying calls for greater political and social freedom at home. Then there's the security angle. A quick glance at the map shows that Muslim Central Asia is in China and Russia's backyard. Some might even call it their soft underbelly - one that needs protecting, especially from Islamic extremism. In April, the SCO announced "anti-terrorism" exercises next year in Russia. According to Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission, these will demonstrate the SCO's growing role in maintaining regional security. The $64,000 question - of course - is how much further will the Chinese-dominated SCO's regional-security role grow? But security interests extend beyond Central Asia, too. Beijing would like to use the SCO's "anti-separatist" provision, particularly with the backing of Russia, to dissuade Taiwan from declaring independence - and deter U.S. intervention. Russia's Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, is none too happy with Washington, democratic revolutions or NATO expansion (especially to include Ukraine). Russia may be looking to create a "new and improved" Asian Warsaw Pact, wielding large armies, big economies, nukes - and lots of oil/gas. Don't forget economics. Central Asia has massive oil and natural gas reserves - and with nervous consumers looking beyond the volatile Middle East, it's in Russia and China's interest that Central Asian oil/gas flows either east to China, or west through Russia. A 1,000-kilometer oil pipeline is already operating from Kazakhstan to China; a gas pipeline and joint ventures are under consideration. Non-SCO member Turkmenistan has just signed a similar oil-pipeline agreement with China. What's Uncle Sam to do? First, keep the SCO from cementing as a full-on alliance. Remind the smaller fry that their history includes long periods of Russian/Chinese domination - and that the embrace of the Bear or the Dragon can mean years of "unpleasantness." Next, become the region's "third big neighbor," cherry-picking SCO partners off through high-level visits, security assistance (e.g., joint exercises/training) and energy cooperation (e.g., opening Caspian transit routes). Moscow and Beijing are using the SCO to advance their influence across the Eurasian heartland, and to create a "new international political and economic order" to their liking - with little room for free markets and even less for free thought. If the United States (and other free nations - hello, India, Europe and Japan) don't answer up, it's not just U.S. influence that will get shut out, but democracy and economic access as well.
SCO expansion will exacerbate terrorism
Brookes 6. (Peter, Sr. Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “Club For Dictators: An ugly agenda for Asia.” The Heritage Foundation. June 12, 2006. http://heritage.org/Research/Commentary/2006/06/Club-For-Dictators-An-ugly-agenda-for-Asia). LRH.
Some see it as a NATO counterweight. Others call it a Club for Dictators - or at least near-dictators. Some consider it an anti-American stalking horse for Chinese and or Russian hegemony, with the potential to become "OPEC with nukes." Whatever: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - a so-called "anti-terrorism, anti-separatism, anti-extremism" grouping, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which holds its fifth annual meeting this week - definitely reeks of trouble for Uncle Sam. Start with this: The "anti-terrorism" SCO has given observer status to Iran, the world's top state sponsor of terrorism - including an annual convention of just about every terror group on the planet. Then consider the wider strategic implications. Beijing and Moscow are using the SCO as a tool to eliminate U.S. influence in the Eurasian heartland - the home to half the world's population, a key front in the War on Terror and the location of key world energy supplies.
SCO Bad – AT: Fight Terrorism
China uses the SCO members as a tool against US counterterrorism operations
Tkacik 6 (John, Heritage expert, Hedging Against China, The Heritage Foundation) KGL
China has attempted, with varying degrees of success, to hinder U.S. coalition forces supporting operations in Afghanistan. In June 2005, China pressured its Central Asian allies in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to demand that the U.S. set a timetable for withdrawal from U.S. bases. Within weeks, American officials accused China of "bullying" Uzbekistan to remove U.S. bases and cajoling neighboring Kyr gystan to agitate for increased U.S. funding to retain bases there.[31] Subsequently, American bases were closed in Uzbekistan and nearly shut tered in Kyrgyzstan. A number of U.S. officials have remarked about China's lack of enthusiasm for the global war on terrorism.[32] One reason for China's disinterest is ideological. Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin has cautioned against "unreserved support for the war on terror" lest it aid the United States in its quest for hegemony.[33] Another reason to hedge against China is its support for illiberal regimes, insulating them against criticism on human rights from the United States and other Western democracies. The Beijing regime views constant harassment from the West on human rights issues as undermining its own legitimacy. To the extent that it can defend despots around the world-such as the leaders of Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Burma-as only "exploring a road to development suited to their national conditions,"[34] it can claim that its own lack of civil and political rights is suited to China's national conditions.
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