Description
Book SynopsisThe first of a three-volume series on the interaction of the US and China in different regions of the world, China, the United States, and the Future of Central Asia explores the delicate balance of competing foreign interests in this resource-rich and politically tumultuous region. Editor David Denoon and his internationally renowned set of contributors assess the different objectives and strategies the U.S. and China deploy in the region and examine how the two world powers are indirectly competitive with one another for influence in Central Asia. While the US is focused on maintaining and supporting its military forces in neighboring states, China has its sights on procuring natural resources for its fast-growing economy and preventing the expansion of fundamentalist Islam inside its borders. This book covers important issues such as the creation of international gas pipelines, the challenges of building crucial transcontinental roadways that must pass through countries facing insur
Trade ReviewIn a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty and intensifying Sino-US interactions in so-called & third areas, this timely collection of high quality essays breaks from outmoded ways of academic and policy thinking to identify a host of emerging governance, security and economic challenges that Central Asia poses for both Washington and Beijing. This volume offers valuable lessons about each of these external power's & tools of influence, their co-existence in practice, and the extent to which they can actually shape regional developments according to their respective strategic priorities. -- Alexander Cooley,author of Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia
Until the collapse of the USSR, China's western border was seen as the Beijing's & back door. This collection documents its emergence as a new front door, and analyzes its implications for US-China relations. Readers of this well-crafted volume will inadvertently be led to ask whether, and how, Central Asian countries can take charge of their own security, or at least shape it. -- S. Frederick Starr,author of Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Alternative Views of Central Asia's Future 3 David B. H. Denoon 2. Walls and Windmills: Economic Development in Central Asia 20 Nazgul Jenish 3. Factoring the Foreign Policy Goals of the Central Asian States 75 Marlene Laruelle The Outside Powers 4. Both Epicenter and Periphery: U.S. Interests in Central Asia 101 Andrew Kuchins and Shalini Sharan 5. Chinese and Russian Economic Interests in Central Asia: Comparative Analysis 130 Li Xin and Xin Daleng 6. The Strategic Interests of China and Russia in Central Asia 154 Xing Guangcheng 7. Life after Divorce: Russia, Central Asia, and Two Decades of Tumultuous Relations 173 Alisher Khamidov 8. Europe in Central Asia: Political Idealism and Economic Pragmatism 209 Sebastien Peyrouse 9. Japan and Korea in Central Asia: Economic Observations 237 Edward J. Lincoln
