ABSTRACT
This chapter will focus on China’s trade and economic cooperation with Uzbekistan, which has drastically increased since early 2000s. China’s role in the whole Central Asia has risen to new heights since the announcement of its new vision of One Belt, One Road during Xi Jinping’s visit to Central Asia in September 2013. To understand China’s growth role in Uzbekistan, first of all the chapter will explore the internal and external interaction and analyse the role of the state-society complexes, intersubjective dynamics in shaping China’s economic policy towards Uzbekistan and Central Asia in general. Second, it will link various domestic reforms since the 1980s with understanding the role of various external conditions in the formation and implementation of China’s ‘going out’ investment policy in Central Asia. Subsequently, this chapter will analyse this in relation to the role of the nature of the state in Central Asia in shaping China’s strategy towards this post-Soviet region. This strategy will be analysed in relation to the ability of the Chinese state to carry out the ‘war of manoeuvre’ approach. The chapter will conclude that the diachronic interaction of all these dimensions or factors underpin China’s competitive investment strategy in Central Asia and why China has been more successful in establishing economic partnership with this post-Soviet region than other major powers.
