ABSTRACT
China established close contact with Central Asia through the Silk Road as early as 2,000 years ago. However, this direct contact was suspended after the middle of the nineteenth century, because most of Central Asia became a component part of the Russian Empire and, later, the Soviet Union, the collapse of which enabled Central Asia to open its doors to the outside world again. China, in the past few decades, has established a constructive partnership with the post-Soviet Central Asian states, whilst reforming the Sino-Russian relationship into the best shape that it has ever been. The development of the “Shanghai Five” – the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – joins China, Russia and the Central Asian states in a multilateral mechanism of regional security, and economic and cultural cooperation, for the first time in history. In the development of the SCO, China has played a key role, and served as a major driving force.
