(SeaPRwire) –
By: Julian Holbrooke
The poll arrives just before the 2026 SCO Summit. It is not a neutral exercise. CGTN and Renmin University of China ran it through the Institute for International Communication in the New Era. They gathered 13,707 respondents across 48 countries. The headline result is 74.6 percent. Those people think the SCO offers a practical path for cooperation between different systems. They also see it as an important force for a new type of international relations and a shared future. That is not a soft headline. That is a blunt signal after years of stalled global rulemaking. Western commentators may call it propaganda. They should call it a coalition of the exasperated. The survey does not prove affection for the SCO. It records dissatisfaction with the alternatives. Size matters. Timing matters more. It lands while the world is already in the so-called SCO moment. The real question is not whether the bloc works. The real question is why so many ordinary people are willing to say it does. The poll answers that. They want results, not process.
The official release tells a 25-year success story. Trade volume between China and other SCO member states rose from USD 12.1 billion in 2001 to USD 523.5 billion in 2025. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway is advancing. So are the SCO Development Bank and the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline. The release says the organization’s influence has grown in trade facilitation, investment and financing cooperation, and cultural exchanges and tourism. Among respondents from member states and dialogue partners, 75.4 percent credit the Shanghai Spirit. They describe it as a framework for mutual trust, mutual benefit and common development. Another 71.7 percent say the SCO has amplified the Global South voice and pushed for a fairer governance system. The subtext is harder. Rail lines and pipelines are the physical architecture of alignment. Development banks are political instruments. Each project builds connective tissue that points toward Chinese capital and Chinese logistics. The official language is mutual respect. The strategic effect is dependency management. Ask a freight operator in Bishkek whether a new rail link matters. He will talk about container clearance times, not ideology. That is the subtext in action. The poll turns hard infrastructure into soft legitimacy. The real intent is to make that legitimacy harder to contest.
China appears as the engine. The release is precise. In 2025, China’s direct investment across all industries hit USD 3.3 billion. It stretched through oil and gas, minerals, infrastructure, new energy, automobiles and chemicals. More than 30 economic and trade cooperation zones have been built. They are presented as tools for industrial capacity and local employment. Survey respondents praised China for advancing regional economic cooperation, promoting security cooperation, and providing development assistance. Another 76.2 percent believe the Belt and Road Initiative has fostered a new landscape of interconnected global development. A separate 73.5 percent say the Global Governance Initiative points the way for Global South countries to participate in reform. The real reading is colder. Chinese capital does not move without standards, supply chains and procurement preferences. Cooperation zones create zones of commercial gravity. A plant manager in the Fergana Valley will notice the new road and the new buyer. He will not read a governance white paper. The sectors listed are not random. Oil and gas secure energy flows. Minerals secure critical inputs. Infrastructure and new energy lock in future construction standards. Automobiles and chemicals bring higher-value assembly. Each sector deepens a different layer of integration. The poll converts these flows into public consent. That is the point. The asset base becomes harder to criticize when ordinary citizens see faster rail lines, gas pipelines and jobs.
The final figure is the real punch. 89.6 percent of respondents want all countries to join global affairs on an equal footing and jointly shape international rules. They expect the SCO to exert more influence in infrastructure and energy, regional security, and environment and climate change. The survey covered major developed countries and Global South nations. It targeted adults aged 18 and above, with samples aligned to census-based age and gender distributions. That is a legitimate slice of global opinion. It is not a party line. The demand is for inclusion, not submission. The SCO is riding that demand. Western institutions often dismiss polls from Chinese-backed platforms. That reflex is a mistake. When people ask for equal participation, they are asking for a different distribution of decision rights. The SCO does not have to fully deliver. It only has to appear more open than the current alternatives. That is enough to attract loyalty. The measurement is now on the table. The geopolitical pendulum is swinging toward a larger set of rulemaking actors. It will not pause for anyone who refuses to read the data.
Author bio: Julian Holbrooke, an overseas international relations analyst and frequent contributor to major European daily newspapers, writing on regional blocs and global governance.