ABSTRACT
China's relations with its Central Asian neighbors are their third decade, and this region is shared with another great power, Russia. To understand China's security relations with Central Asia in the 21st century, one must first understand the situation in Xinjiang, China's far western province. China in turn supports Kazakhstan's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Tajikistan and China jointly launched the Tajik section of Line D of the China-Central Asia Natural Gas Pipeline in 2014, though the project requires cooperation with Uzbekistan. Small, poor, mountainous, and unstable, Kyrgyzstan is one of the major challenges for China's diplomacy in Central Asia. Turkmenistan may be the least populous state in Central Asia, but it does have an immense amount of natural gas and, for a while, the most bizarre leader. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is the primary regional organization for the Central Asian republics, China and Russia. China needs Central Asian energy; it wants Central Asian markets.
