The recent conflict between indigenous Uyghurs and Han Chinese demonstrates that Xinjiang is a major trouble spot for China, with Uyghur demands for increased autonomy, and where Beijing’s policy is to more firmly integrate the province within China. This book provides an account of how China’s evolving integrationist policies in Xinjiang have influenced its foreign policy in Central Asia since the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, and how the policy of integration is related to China’s concern for security and its pursuit of increased power and influence in Central Asia. The book traces the development of Xinjiang - from the collapse of the Qing empire in the early twentieth century to the present – and argues that there is a largely complementary relationship between China’s Xinjiang, Central Asia and grand strategy-derived interests. This pattern of interests informs and shapes China’s diplomacy in Central Asia and its approach to the governance of Xinjiang. Michael E. Clarke shows how China’s concerns and policies, although pursued with vigour in recent decades, are of long-standing, and how domestic problems and policies in Xinjiang have for a long time been closely bound up with wider international relations issues.

This book examines, comprehensively, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, the regional organisation which consists of China, Russia and most of the Central Asian countries. It charts the development of the Organisation from the establishment of its precursor, the Shanghai Five, in 1996, through its own foundation in 2001 to the present. It considers the foreign policy of China and of the other member states, showing how the interests and power of the member states determine the Organisation’s institutions, functional development and relations with non-members. It explores the Organisation’s activities in the fields of politics and security co-operation, economic and energy co-operation, and in culture and education, and concludes with a discussion of how the Organisation is likely to develop in future. Throughout, the book sets the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in the context of China’s overall strategy towards Central Asia.

A major history of Central Asia and how it has been shaped by modern world events Central Asia is often seen as a remote and inaccessible land on the peripheries of modern history. Encompassing Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and the Xinjiang province of China, it in fact stands at the crossroads of world events. Adeeb Khalid provides the first comprehensive history of Central Asia from the mid-eighteenth century to today, shedding light on the historical forces that have shaped the region under imperial and Communist rule. Predominantly Muslim with both nomadic and settled populations, the peoples of Central Asia came under Russian and Chinese rule after the 1700s. Khalid shows how foreign conquest knit Central Asians into global exchanges of goods and ideas and forged greater connections to the wider world. He explores how the Qing and Tsarist empires dealt with ethnic heterogeneity, and compares Soviet and Chinese Communist attempts at managing national and cultural difference. He highlights the deep interconnections between the "Russian" and "Chinese" parts of Central Asia that endure to this day, and demonstrates how Xinjiang remains an integral part of Central Asia despite its fraught and traumatic relationship with contemporary China. The essential history of one of the most diverse and culturally vibrant regions on the planet, this panoramic book reveals how Central Asia has been profoundly shaped by the forces of modernity, from colonialism and social revolution to nationalism, state-led modernization, and social engineering.

Since the early 2000s, the People's Republic of China has become an increasingly key player in the fortunes of Central Asia, both diplomatically and strategically, particularly through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Economically, China has become one of the largest traders andinvestors in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, drastically diminishing Russia's long-time dominance and the influence of the United States and Europe.Treating China as an external factor in the domestic ordering of Central Asia, this volume uniquely analyzes the changes that have revolutionized the systems and societies of Central Asia. It reveals how China has become a subject of public debate and academic and expert research, and it follows thenew cultural mediators, petty traders, lobbyists, migrants, and diasporas that have emerged in conjunction with the country's rise. China's ascendance has also triggered a number of anxieties and phobias across Central Asia, and the authors show how its dominance has brought Sinophobia andSinophilia into closer relation.

This book analyzes the Central Asian economies of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, from their buffeting by the commodity boom of the early 2000s to its collapse in 2014. Richard Pomfret examines the countries’ relations with external powers and the possibilities for development offered by infrastructure projects as well as rail links between China and Europe. The transition of these nations from centrally planned to market-based economic systems was essentially complete by the early 2000s, when the region experienced a massive increase in world prices for energy and mineral exports. This raised incomes in the main oil and gas exporters, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan; brought more benefits to the most populous country, Uzbekistan; and left the poorest countries, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, dependent on remittances from migrant workers in oil-rich Russia and Kazakhstan. Pomfret considers the enhanced role of the Central Asian nations in the global economy and their varied ties to China, the European Union, Russia, and the United States. With improved infrastructure and connectivity between China and Europe (reflected in regular rail freight services since 2011 and China’s announcement of its Belt and Road Initiative in 2013), relaxation of United Nations sanctions against Iran in 2016, and the change in Uzbekistan’s presidency in late 2016, a window of opportunity appears to have opened for Central Asian countries to achieve more sustainable economic futures.

A brand-new cultural and historical guide to China's westernmost region that explores both well-traveled Silk Road routes and little-explored mountain ranges.