Central Asia: the View from Beijing, Urumqi and Kashghar

Abstract

Most research on contemporary Central Asia has concentrated on relations between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Central Asian states, their connections with Russia and on the post-Soviet political, social and economic systems that are emerging in the region. This is understandable given the political, cultural and linguistic ties that bound the states of the former USSR together and tended to separate them from the rest of Asia. However, the momentous political changes that have taken place in former Soviet Central Asia have been paralleled by unprecedented economic changes in their eastern neighbour, China, which is set to become one of the leading economies of the world if its political stability can be maintained. This could have profound implications for the economic future of Central Asia. The government of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing, which is still nominally communist in spite of its policy of creating a dynamic market economy, has been watching post-Soviet political and religious developments in Central Asia with concern. At the same time it has swiftly concluded diplomatic and trade agreements with the governments of the newly independent states and participated in joint meetings to discuss key issues such as troop reduction, boundary agreements and border trade. This study is an attempt to examine the main issues in China’s relations with the Central Asian region, with particular reference to Kazakhstan.1