ABSTRACT
China’s relations with five Central Asian states have undergone an impressive evolution since 1991. From limited interaction and trade across the militarised border, they bloomed into strategic partnerships and a myriad of political, economic and cultural ties. The article focuses on four clusters of factors that define China–Central Asia relations: the continuing salience of the historical experiences of interaction between China and Central Asia, including the division of the region between the Russian and Chinese empires; the challenge and importance of controlling Xinjiang for consecutive Chinese governments, and the extent to which this influences Beijing’s policy towards Central Asian states; the imbalance of power between China and the countries of the region, softened by synergies of their interests and China’s way of managing relations with small neighbours; and the changing regional and global orders, with China shaping them, and Central Asian states adapting. Such a frame helps to reconstruct the logic of China–Central Asia relations and consider relations at different levels of analysis – national, regional and global, and note how developments at these levels feed into each other.
