ABSTRACT
Central Asia and East Asia are described as the wider neighbourhood of Russia and China. East Asia is the most important part of China's neighbourhood, in political, economic, security and historical terms. In the wake of the global economic crisis China has increased its activity towards Central Asia while Russia has declared its turn to Asia. Russia-China interactions in Central Asia are usually interpreted as the most conflict-prone element of their relationship. This chapter explains core argument that challenges the commonly held assumption and asserts that a new status quo has emerged in Central Asia. With the focus on global challenges and strategic issues, the declarations resembled the regularly issued at the Russia-China bilateral summits. Russia's and China's divergent visions of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation's (SCO) role, which seem impossible to reconcile, resulted in the stagnation of the organisation. The chapter focuses on the exploration of oil and gas in Russia and Vietnam.
