ABSTRACT
In the contemporary period, the Central Asian region has become a zone of competition for influence between the great powers. In this contribution, China's ‘Belt and Road Initiative' will be discussed as part of the People's Republic of China's long-term international policies, and against the background of Central Asia's historical identity as a ‘land in-between' Europe and the Far East, a transit area through Eurasia. Both China and Europe should work closely together to improve global infrastructure and economic integration, in a bid to upgrade their bilateral ties and learn from each other to bridge the widening gap between the demand and supply of international public goods, which is exactly what the Belt and Road initiative seeks to achieve. From the sixth century onwards, they started to establish trade relations between their cities and Constantinople, thus linking Central Asia to Europe.
