ABSTRACT
The contributors to this volume are grateful to the Griffith Asia Institute for hosting the June 2006 Workshop on ‘Central Asia and Xinjiang into the twenty-first century’ that has led to the publication of these timely and thought-provoking essays. The participants, many of whom had travelled far to be in Australia, offered informed, indeed fascinating, insights focused on the relationship between developments in Xinjiang and China’s ties with the rest of Central Asia. In a broader sense, the proceedings touched on a range of significant global and international issues pertinent to that ‘region’, including recent views from Beijing, Moscow, Washington and Australia. In a more particular sense, and very correctly in my mind, they also critically delved into the more ‘local’ conditions of life, attitudes, history of events, and states’ policies that have had equally profound effects on the various peoples and players there. All of these were placed in the context of a number of important ‘transitions’ that are variously underway today.
