China’s New Silk Road
The Shanghai Co-operation Organization, originally Five -- now six countries, which takes in China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan can serve several important functions. A regional bloc that can act as a counterpoise to the US-dominated alliances in the region and Muslim religious extremism. In Urumqi, China, through which the Silk Road runs, Islam has been the dominant religion for over 1,000 years. The organization may eventually incorporate other countries in the region including Turkmenistan, and even Mongolia and other members of the former Soviet Union -- conceivably, even Turkey if it is shunned by Europe.
China is taking over the role held by Russia in Central Asia and is now the region’s rich and powerful benign leader. China’s authoritarian politics and central planning have a strong appeal for many of the former Soviet republics of the region. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan all prefer dealing with China than the West and adopting economic models more suited to their future development. The Chinese are concerned about the U.S. military base in Uzbekistan and the Indian base in Tajikistan because all three countries are competing to secure access to the region’s oil. China is portrayed and perceived in the region as a new superpower lacking aggressive intent.
Bates Gill, a China specialist at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said: “The Chinese are sending people all the time to meet prime ministers and presidents and generals and all the way down the diplomatic ladder. This is all about soft power, and strategic and diplomatic relationships. Central Asia is a fantastic lens, or model, for what China is trying to do all over its periphery: reaching out and settling old scores, and trying to establish a benign kind of hegemony.”
China is updating its old Silk Road relationships and catapulting them into the 21st century. In 2004 it established the China-Arab Co-operation Forum, marking a new milestone in the history of close ties between China and Arab states.
China is taking over the role held by Russia in Central Asia and is now the region’s rich and powerful benign leader. China’s authoritarian politics and central planning have a strong appeal for many of the former Soviet republics of the region. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan all prefer dealing with China than the West and adopting economic models more suited to their future development. The Chinese are concerned about the U.S. military base in Uzbekistan and the Indian base in Tajikistan because all three countries are competing to secure access to the region’s oil. China is portrayed and perceived in the region as a new superpower lacking aggressive intent.
Bates Gill, a China specialist at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said: “The Chinese are sending people all the time to meet prime ministers and presidents and generals and all the way down the diplomatic ladder. This is all about soft power, and strategic and diplomatic relationships. Central Asia is a fantastic lens, or model, for what China is trying to do all over its periphery: reaching out and settling old scores, and trying to establish a benign kind of hegemony.”
China is updating its old Silk Road relationships and catapulting them into the 21st century. In 2004 it established the China-Arab Co-operation Forum, marking a new milestone in the history of close ties between China and Arab states.
posted by Peter de Krassel's Custom Maid Politics at 11:50 PM
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