The Chinese-inspired concept of partnership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

The Chinese-inspired concept of partnership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is attracting always more attention in the developing world and is becoming an alternative to the Western concept of cooperation with developing countries. The overall difference lays on the conditionality concept that the West tends to apply to counterpart governments. This kind of approach elevates the acceptance of Western values as the path towards development. China opposes a narrative informed by its policy fundamentals of respect for sovereignty and non-interference, which offer win-win agreements of mutual development. This narrative has allowed China to strengthen relations with States, whose foreign policy have been fluctuant towards the other Great Powers. Uzbek foreign policy, in the years between the independence in 1991 and the death of President Islam Karimov in 2016, represents an example of the success of the Chinese way in avoiding to alienate the country's participation to the SCO process.