ABSTRACT
However, whereas there is a dearth of integration, another relationship does exist and that is interdependency, and it is this relationship of interdependency that is driving certain agendas in this region. This economic and strategic interdependency that has built up since the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union between China, specifically the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and several of the former Soviet Union (FSU) states, will be examined in this paper. The initial emphasis will focus on how this relationship of interdependency impacts on the reasoning behind many of the decisions that are made by various governments within the region, and the implications of such decisions. The lack of integration among these states is a drawback to an individual state when it is dealing with a more powerful neighbour and it is this lack of willingness to operate as a group that does to a certain extent benefit one of the major players in the area – China.
