China’s Rise in Central Asia: The Dragon Enters the Heart of Eurasia

Abstract

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, when observers evoked the international actors deemed likely to play a role in Central Asia,’ the People’s Republic of China (PRC) seldom came to mind. At that time its geographical proximity and economic rise, and the historical connections between Central Asia and its province of Xinjiang, did not attract much attention. In most analyses, authors essentially privileged the future role of Russia, Turkey, and Iran, that is, the countries to the west. Twenty-three years later, although Central Asia is not considered the top priority in China’s foreign policy, it must be noted that the PRC has become one of the most active players in this geographic area. China’s power in the region rose gradually in the 1990s before culminating in the first decade of the 21st century. Today, the multiform influence Beijing has acquired in Central Asia can no longer be denied. The actions taken by Beijing over the course of more than two decades have reshaped the power balance in the region. The weight that China acquired in Central Asia, a geographic zone from which it was completely absent until the middle of the 1980s, has come to symbolize, probably more than anywhere else, its growing global power. Henceforth, the ‘Chinese Dragon’ is well present in the heart of Eurasia.