Chapter 3 China and Central Asia
3.1. China's Security Concern in Central Asia
3.1.3. China’s Security Issues toward Central Asia
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3.1.3. China’s Security Issues toward Central Asia
China's western region is adjacent to Central Asia within which the security issues are in connection with China's economic development and national security.
For a long time, Beijing has felt threatened by the terrorism development in Central Asia especially in its XUAR. In order to keep economic growth, energy and strategic interests, Beijing needs to obtain the preconditions of realizing its strategic and energy objectives in Central Asia, which is based on the internal stability in XUAR. Thus, I will put emphasis on three dimensions including politics, economy, and ethical problems in this section.
Political Security
China had territorial disputes with the USSR before it collapsed, and both sides had fought a few wars. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the main concern for China’s security issues toward Central Asian states was the border dispute between XUAR and Central Asia. Beijing’s main concern here lies in territorial security issue which has become annoying for both China and Russia. In this context, Beijing wanted to grasp this opportunity to build good relationships with its peripherals including Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan to make the border issue more peaceful.63 In 1996, two important agreements were signed to deepen military trust in their border regions, and also to reduce military forces deployed in the border areas. These agreements provided that each side was to refrain from staging military exercises directly against the other. By doing so, Beijing has demilitarized and stabilized border with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. It is obvious
63 Lowell Dittmer, pp. 14-15.
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for Beijing to know that border stability has been the center of its economic development plans and foreign policy priorities. In addition, China’s diplomacy in Central Asia aims to prevent the region from becoming a distraction from its internal development and more importantly foreign policy goals. Just like Ramakant Dwivedi says “there is a major emphasis given to the periphery in Chinese strategic thinking.
Its peripheral security has the following two goals: (1) to maintain stability within its territory adjoining the boundary and to ensure the security and economic welfare of its people; and (2) to ensure peace and stability on the border by promoting a belt of good neighborliness and friendship.”64
Economic Security
China’s fast economic growth has been pushing itself to seek for more petroleum with stable reserves. Yet Central Asia happened to meet this requirement of being rich in mineral wealth, especially in oil reserve. In other words, China’s main economic interest in the region is energy. China has evolved into an oil importer ever since 1993, importing about 40 to 45 percent of its oil needs.65 Furthermore, it is the world has become the second largest oil importer and consumer of energy since 2003, accounting for 40 percent of the increase in world oil demand since 2000. As about 60 percent of China’s current oil import is from the Middle East, and roughly 80 percent of them passes through the 600-mile long Straits of Malacca, whose security depends on the U.S. Navy based on consideration of the constrains of Sea Lines Of Communication (SLOC), and the potential conflicts across Taiwan Straits, the SLOC between China and the Middle East show maritime vulnerability to potential
64 Ramakant Dwivedi, pp. 140-141
65 張錫模，「新世紀能源支配權爭奪戰的基本構圖」，能源季刊 1 (台北: 1997): 6。[Chang Ximou, Xinshiji Nengyuan Zhipeiquan Zhengduozhan De Jibengouto (The Basic Picture of Energy Domination in New Century) Nenyuan Jikan (Energy Quarterly) 1 (Taipei: 1997): 6.]
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disruption of supplies. In this context, the westward pipelines to Central Asia represent the strategic need to replace China’s heavily dependence on maritime oil imports. In a border context, Beijing needs to put efforts on forging an environment which is less susceptible to external interferences or disruptions. Only further elevating the necessity of security along China’s western borders, including XUAR, can this platform be enhanced by a complementary trend of increasing oil production from Central Asian states.66 Consequently, Beijing wants to secure the diversity of oil supplies from the land routes, particularly from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. As a result, it is Beijing’s primary focus to develop its western region in order to resolve the poverty problem and to secure its economic security.
The Ethical Problem
China has focused on security issue of Central Asian region due to the concern of minority independent movements on its western borders. There are two kinds of ethical issues exist in Central Asia: firstly, there is frictions between local people and the Russians that cause many local people to migrate to the Russian Federation. From Beijing’s perspective, the Central Asian states could potentially affect the ethnic situation of Xinjiang province to a huge extent. This possibility stems from the demographic seminaries between the Central Asian states and XUAR. About 60 percent of Xinjiang’s population is composed of ethnic minorities, which is the region’s largest single ethnic group—the Uighur, and the number is over 7 million.
Han Chinese is Xinjiang’s second largest ethnic group, with a population of approximately 6 million. Recently, XUAR’s independent movement relates to East
66 Richard Giragosian, pp. 136-137.
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Turkmenistan which aggregates China's worry, particularly following the collapse of the Soviet Union.67 Beijing worried that transnational Islamic or ethnic Turkic forces operating outside of newly dependent Central Asian states would either directly, or indirectly encourage and support the separatist activities of minority groups on XUAR borders. For example, the rising powers of Islamic extremist in Central Asia and the reviving Islamic organizations in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been attacking and molesting the local governments, which has huge effect on Central Asia's internal security. Thus, how to prevent the minority independent on China's western region has been Beijing's priority in accordance with national security.