China In Eurasia

With a summit in Bishkek, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is turning 25 at a moment of extraordinary tension that touches directly on many of the increasingly sprawling regional group's members.

Iran is at war with the United States, Russia's war on Ukraine continues to rage with no sign of a let-up, China faces mounting US pressure over trade, and nuclear-armed foes India and Pakistan sit together despite deep rivalry, just to name a few.

The four Central Asian members -- host country Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan -- are regional players but also the objects of various nations seeking to increase their sway, including China, Russia, India, and the United States, which is not a member of the SCO.

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In an interview with the People's Daily, the newspaper of the Central Committee of China's Communist Party, SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbaev of Kazakhstan touted the "Shanghai spirit," which he said involves mutual trust, respect, and benefit, among other qualities he asserted make the group appealing to the so-called Global South.

But behind these "shared values" are deep differences, with members using the SCO platform to pursue their own, often competing agendas.

Each member "has its own distinct position, and the major powers have views that differ from one another," Kyrgyz political analyst Emil Juraev said.

China and India "have differing positions on many issues, and there are also areas of dispute between them," Juraev said. "Russia is trying to exert influence on the world and…continues its war without stopping it. In addition, there is Iran. Everyone is waiting to see what Iran will do."

The 26th annual SCO summit marks 25 years since it was established by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus are now members, and along with observer states and dialogue partners it represents nearly half of the world's population and roughly a quarter of the global economy.

"Bishkek has become a world capital today," a local paper proclaimed on August 31 as leaders gathered for bilateral meetings on the eve of the formal summit.

The September 1 meeting is expected to produce a Bishkek Declaration marking the anniversary along with thematic statements and decisions covering security, the economy, transport, environmental protection, artificial intelligence, and cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

Past gatherings have produced no momentous decisions, however, and for members large and small it may be more about show than substance.

Despite deep differences within the organization, the SCO gives its members and observers a platform to appear together on the international stage and project the weight of a larger collective, said Reid Standish, a nonresident research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies and a former RFE/RL correspondent.

"It may not have major policy achievements to its name and it can be hamstrung by its internal rivalries, but the SCO still clearly serves a purpose in bringing these leaders together in a forum that isn't dominated by Western powers," he said. "The SCO's leaders clearly attach meaning to this, otherwise they would not be attending."

China is the SCO's most influential member, and its economic weight has put Beijing at the center of mounting international pressure over trade.

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Ahead of an August 31 meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors halfway around the world in Asheville, North Carolina, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would encourage members to rethink their trade with China, calling Beijing's roughly $1.2 trillion global trade surplus unsustainable.

Last week, Bessent urged countries to cut ties with Iran as part of an effort to "sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone."

For Iran, the signal it hopes the SCO summit will send is that it is not alone.

"In the confrontation between Iran and America, we should expect stronger statements here, statements about Western influence and pressure or a declaration expressing disagreement with the processes in Iran or saying something along the lines of, 'You are doing the wrong thing,'" Kyrgyz political analyst Chynara Esengul said.

Likewise Russia, which is under increasingly tight Western sanctions over its war against Ukraine. In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin on suspicion of war crimes over the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

For China, Standish said, SCO meetings "serve a useful purpose in providing important optics to the world that key global decisions can be reached without the presence of Western leaders."

For nearly three months, Nartai Zhengis, who lives in Kazakhstan, has not heard directly from his father, Zhengis Reskhan, a prominent ethnic Kazakh writer and satirist from China's Xinjiang region.

The last word came through Nartai's mother in Xinjiang, who told him local police had taken Reskhan away without providing any official detention notice or disclosing any charges. Since then, the family has been unable to obtain any formal explanation from Chinese authorities.

The case has renewed concerns about the treatment of ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang, where rights groups, researchers, and relatives have for years documented detentions, disappearances, and restrictions targeting Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic Muslim minorities.

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In 2018, a UN human rights panel cited credible reports that as many as 1 million Uyghurs and members of other predominantly Muslim minority groups were being held in camps and other detention facilities across the region.

Beijing has described the facilities as vocational training centers designed to combat extremism and terrorism and has repeatedly denied allegations of widespread abuses.

However, human rights organizations, former detainees, UN experts, and several Western governments have disputed those explanations, while a 2022 UN human rights office report said allegations of arbitrary detention and other abuses in Xinjiang were credible and could constitute crimes against humanity.

In Reskhan's case, relatives say authorities have provided little official information.

"They never showed any legal documents," Nartai said in an interview with RFE/RL's Kazakh Service. "No search warrants, no detention papers, no explanation of the reasons."

According to the family's account, pressure on Reskhan began months before his disappearance. Starting in December 2025, local authorities repeatedly summoned and detained him for what they described as "investigations." Sometimes he would disappear for a day, sometimes several days, occasionally for a week, before returning home.

"He always came back," Nartai recalled. "Then after March, I completely lost contact with my father."

The family's understanding of what happened afterward comes entirely through unofficial channels. Relatives in Xinjiang reportedly heard that the writer had been transferred from his hometown in Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County to the city of Hami and was being held there. Authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the information.

The only explanation relatives say they received was verbal. According to Nartai, local officials told family members that Reskhan allegedly possessed "radical ideas" and had engaged in speech or activities that could affect state stability. No written accusation was ever produced.

Nartai rejects the allegation outright.

"It is a complete lie," he said. "My father is simply a writer and satirist."

Giving A Voice To The Voiceless

Based in the Hami region of eastern Xinjiang, which is home to a large ethnic Kazakh community and part of the historic homeland of the Uyghurs and other Turkic-Muslim peoples, Reskhan became one of the most recognizable voices in Kazakh-language literature and culture.

Over the years, he worked as a teacher, editor, cultural administrator, and literary organizer. He directed a county song-and-dance ensemble, edited the Kazakh-language section of the Hami Valley magazine, and chaired the Hami Regional Writers' Union.

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He was best known for satire and children's literature, writing stories that relied on humor and everyday social observation rather than political themes. His work earned him recognition within Xinjiang's literary circles, including regional awards and membership in China's official Writers Association.

According to his family, he has compiled 13 collections over his career, though the remaining two manuscripts had not yet been formally published at the time of his disappearance.

For Nartai, his father's distinguished record as an educator and state-recognized writer makes the accusations he allegedly faces entirely groundless.

"Eleven [of his collections] were legally published through official publishing houses," he said. "Some were translated into Chinese and published again. If there was something wrong with his work, why were those books approved and distributed?"

Part Of A Wider Purge

Reskhan's disappearance is part of a broader pattern that researchers, activists, and relatives say has affected Uyghur and Kazakh intellectuals, writers, educators, and cultural figures across Xinjiang over the past decade.

The family's story reflects broader concerns raised by journalist Zhaqsylyq Qazymuratuly, who has spent years documenting the detention and disappearance of Kazakh intellectuals in Xinjiang.

Qazymuratuly describes Reskhan as one of the most prominent Kazakh writers in China and argues that his case is not an isolated one.

Two years ago, Qazymuratuly published an investigation into imprisoned Kazakh intellectuals in Xinjiang, including poets, writers, journalists, and artists. According to information he has received since then, only a small number have reportedly been released, some under strict police supervision or house arrest. For many others, he says, there is still no reliable information.

"The majority of those detained remain unaccounted for," he said.

Qazymuratuly believes the nature of repression in Xinjiang has changed since the period of mass detentions that drew international attention between 2017 and 2019.

In his view, authorities initially detained large numbers of people to instill fear across society. Once that objective was achieved, the focus shifted toward intellectuals and cultural figures.

"I believe the goal is to eliminate the intelligentsia -- people who speak on behalf of their nation, defend national interests, and try to preserve them," he said.

He points to broader changes within the Kazakh community in Xinjiang. According to Qazymuratuly, Kazakh-language schools have largely disappeared, younger generations increasingly study and communicate in Chinese, and the space for Kazakh-language cultural life has narrowed considerably.

"What they need now," he said, "is to weaken or ultimately eliminate an intelligentsia that thinks, speaks, and writes in Kazakh and remains concerned about Kazakh national and cultural issues."

He also questions the logic behind some prosecutions.

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Chinese authorities maintain extensive censorship mechanisms before books, magazines, and news reports are published. Yet, according to information he has gathered, some intellectuals are later accused on the basis of material that had already passed official review and received government approval.

"For authorities to later find fault with books or reports that they themselves approved and published appears more like a pretext or false accusation," he said.

Falling On Deaf Ears

The family's search for answers has exposed the limits of official assistance.

After losing contact with his father, Nartai wrote to Kazakhstan's president, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, the Chinese Embassy in Astana, the US Embassy in Astana, and several international organizations. Months later, he has yet to receive any substantive information about his father's whereabouts.

Desperate for answers, Nartai took a significant risk and sent his sister, a Kazakh citizen, to Xinjiang. At a local police station, officials allegedly responded that they either did not know his location or would not provide information, refusing to give her even written confirmation of their refusal. Prosecutors declined to meet with her or answer phone calls, forcing her to return to Kazakhstan empty-handed.

RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service also sought comment from the Chinese Embassy regarding Reskhan's case but received no response.

Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry has said it submitted an inquiry to Beijing regarding the writer's case.

Kazakhstan publicly positions itself as the historical homeland and protector of the global ethnic Kazakh diaspora. At the same time, successive Kazakh governments have sought to maintain close political and economic ties with China, a key trade and investment partner that shares a long border with Kazakhstan.

This balancing act has frequently drawn criticism from activists campaigning on behalf of ethnic Kazakhs detained or missing in Xinjiang.

Kazakh officials have nonetheless maintained that Reskhan is a Chinese citizen and that his case falls strictly under China's internal jurisdiction.

As of June, his family says it still has no official confirmation of where he is being held or whether any formal charges have been brought against him.