Assessment and Analysis of
Mainland China’s Neighborhood
Policy for Central Asian Countries
Wu-ping Kwo
Professor, Graduate Institute of European Studies, Nanhua UniversityAbstract
In October 2013, mainland China held its first “Neighborhood Diplomacy Conference” in Beijing, where President Xi Jinping pro-posed the neighborhood diplomacy policy of friendliness, sincerity, benefit, and inclusiveness, in order to build stable and harmonious surroundings. Nevertheless, under the policy of returning to Asia, the U.S. constantly ropes in the neighboring countries of mainland China to jointly boycott mainland China. In consideration of its geo-strategic security and urgent need for energy, mainland China has proactively built diplomatic relations with Central Asian countries and has strengthened the neighbor diplomacy policy of political mutual trust, mutually beneficial economic and trade relations, counter-terrorism cooperation, and cultural exchanges for many years. As a result, mainland China has had an increasing influence on Central Asian countries.
Keywords: Good Neighbor Policy, Central Asia, Geostrategic,
I. Introduction
On October 24, 2013, mainland China held its first “Neighborhood Diplomacy Conference” in Beijing, which was the first-ever diplomatic conference on mainland China’s overall strategic objectives, basic guidelines, and overall arrangement of neighborhood diplomacy. For overall strategic objectives, President Xi Jinping said, “The strategic objectives of neighborhood diplomacy are to achieve the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, fully develop relations with neighboring coun-tries, endeavor to build a more friendly relation between neighboring countries and mainland China’s politics, reinforce economic ties, dee-pen security cooperation, and strengthen humanity.”1
In terms of basic guidelines of neighborhood diplomacy, Xi Jinping particularly proposed the ideas of “friendliness, sincerity, benefit, and inclusiveness” and “being friendly to neighboring countries and developing companionship with neighboring countries.”20 He
further indicated that it is necessary to insist on being friendly to neighboring countries—helping them; interacting with them more often; engaging in more beneficial activities; and increasing friend-liness, charisma, and influence. In addition, mainland China should treat neighboring countries earnestly and sincerely to gain more friends and partners, should initiate cooperation with neighboring countries based on the principle of mutual benefit to enable them to benefit from mainland China’s development (as well as to enable
“Xi Jinping’s key focuses in his speech in Neighborhood Diplomacy Conference,”
People, October 25, 2013, <http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/1025/
c1024-23332318.html>.
“Important Speech of Xi Jinping at Peripheral Diplomacy Work Conference,”
China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development Secretariat, October 30, 2013, <http://www.cciced.net/encciced/newscenter/
mainland China to benefit from the joint development with neighboring countries), and should advocate inclusive thinking to use a more open-minded and proactive attitude to facilitate regional cooperation. In terms of actual arrangement, Xi Jinping emphasized that the arrangement of neighborhood diplomacy should deepen mutual benefits and win-win situations, proactively participate in regional economic cooperation, accelerate the mutual connection of infra-structure, build a Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st maritime
Silk Road, and construct a new pattern of regional economic integration. Mainland China should insist on the new security concepts of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, and cooperation to promote the security cooperation
In fact, mainland China’s neighborhood policy is to continue Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence,3as well as to jointly build a stable
and harmonious environment with neighboring countries based on the ideas of friendliness, sincerity, benefit, and inclusiveness.4This study
is an in-depth investigation of Xi Jinping’s ideas on neighborhood dip-lomacy policy and the effectiveness of mainland China’s neighborhood
“China’s Promotion of Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence,” Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the People’s Republic of China, August 12, 2014, <http://www.
fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_chn/ziliao_611306/wjs_611318/2159_611322/t8987.shtml>. Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister of PRC, was invited to attend the press conference of 12th National People’s Congress held in Beijing on March 8, 2014. He explained that the diplomatic ideas of friendliness, sincerity, benefit, and in-clusiveness are to further express mainland China’s sincerity and friendliness to neighboring countries, as well as the cooperation with neighboring countries to jointly build a community of destiny. See “Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s answers to the questions concerning mainland China’s diplomatic policy and foreign relations raised by foreign and domestic journalists,” Xinhua Net, March 8, 2014, <http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-03/08/c_119673896.htm>.
diplomacy policy for Central Asian Countries.
II. Geopolitical Security Environment Faced by Mainland
China
After the end of the Cold War, the overall environment of easing international tensions provided mainland China with the great opportunity of building stable relations with neighboring countries. In the 1950s, mainland China’s foreign policy of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence became its long-term policy for building in-ternational relations with neighboring countries, as well as the core content of its neighborhood diplomacy policy.5Since the 1990s,
main-land China traditionally has maintained friendly relations with neigh-boring countries, such as North Korea, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. It has established formal diplomatic relations with South Korea and Singapore. It has established a strategic partnership with the northern power, Russia, to face the 21st century. It has endeavored
to develop a peaceful and friendly partnership with Japan to face the 21stcentury. It has established a peaceful and prosperous partnership
with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Therefore, mainland China’s relations with neighboring countries basically are stable.
When Xi Jinping became mainland China’s president, he started to proactively promote the neighborhood diplomacy policy. Never-theless, under the policy of returning to Asia, the U.S. constantly ropes in neighboring countries to boycott mainland China.6Meanwhile,
“Backgrounder: Five principles of peaceful coexistence,” Xinhua News Agency, April 8, 2005, <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/08/content_2803638. htm>.
other countries, such as Japan, Russia, and India, also proactively cooperate with one another to be alert against mainland China. The neighboring countries of mainland China have become the focus of great powers’ competition. The U.S. particularly announced its policy of returning to Asia to promote “Asia-Pacific rebalancing.”7 In the
southeast of mainland China, the U.S. has cooperated with Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam to defend against mainland China’s maritime defense.8The Abe administration of Japan also proactively
cooperates with neighboring countries of mainland China to jointly stand against mainland China. There have been controversies over the territorial rights in the East China Sea, South China Sea, and Diao-yutai/Senkaku Islands and over historical issues. The U.S. and Japan seem to have become the strategic adversary of mainland China in the Asia-Pacific region.
In recent years, the forces of international terrorism and ethnic separatism in the northwest area of mainland China and in Xinjiang have significantly affected the stability in the northwest region of mainland China.9Mainland China and Russia signed the Sino-Russian
July 21, 2009, <http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/u-s-back-asia-secretary-state-hillary-clinton-declares-article-1.429381>.
Robert Burns, “Hillary Clinton declares the U.S. ‘is back’ in Asia,” The China
Post, July 22, 2009,
<http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/regional-news/2009/07/22/217346/Hillary-Clinton.htm>.
“Obama says US will defend Japan in island dispute with China President on state visit to Japan warns against challenge to Tokyo’s administration of Senkaku islands,” The Guardian, April 24, 2014, <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/ apr/24/obama-in-japan-backs-status-quo-in-island-dispute-with-china>.
Elizabeth Van Wie Davis, “Uyghur Muslim Ethnic Separatism in Xinjiang, China,” Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, January, 2008, <http://www. apcss.org/college/publications/uyghur-muslim-ethnic-separatism-in-xinjiang-china/>.
Treaty of Friendship,10 which enabled them to establish a strategic
partnership with each other and basically confirmed the mutual boun-dary delimitation. Mainland China, Russia, and Central Asian countries have established the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)” to jointly fight terrorism. With the rapid rise of mainland China, however, Russia and Central Asian countries still are afraid of mainland China’s potential threats.11
III. Mainland China’s Relations with Central Asian
Countries
The latest research report released by the International Crisis Group (ICG), whose headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium, indicated that, in the coming years, mainland China will replace the U.S. and Russia to become the biggest external power in Central Asian Countries.12The five Central Asian countries are former Soviet
republics, making them part of Russia’s sphere of influence of core interests. They are adjacent to Xinjiang, mainland China, and are very important to mainland China’s geo-strategic security in the north. In consideration of its geo-strategic security and urgent need for energy, mainland China has proactively built diplomatic relations with Central Asian countries and has had increasing influence on them. Since SCO was established in 2001, it has become the new
Patrick E. Tyler, “Archives: Russia and China Sign ‘Friendship’ Pact,” The
New York Times, July 17, 2001, <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/17/world/
russia-and-china-sign-friendship-pact.html>.
Guo Qiong, “Practices, Challenges, and Suggestions of China’s National Image Building in Central Asian Countries,” Social Sciences in Xinjiang, No. 1, 2014, pp. 74-79, <http://theory.gmw.cn/2014-04/11/content_10966345.htm>. “China’s Central Asia Problem,” International Crisis Group, February 27, 2013, <http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/north-east-asia/china/244-chinas-central-asia-problem.aspx>.
platform for mainland China to cooperate with neighboring Central Asian countries. The counter-terrorism security cooperation and joint military exercises among mainland China, Russia, and Central Asian countries have become routine activities.13 In addition, in recent
years, mainland China has directly imported a large amount of pe-troleum and natural gas from Central Asian countries, suggesting that mainland China’s economic and trade energy and security co-operation with Central Asian countries have grown closer.14
Central Asian countries are the bridge between Asia and Europe, with Russia in their north; mainland China, India, and Pakistan in their southeast; and Eastern Europe in their west. In global geopolitics, the changes in Central Asian countries tend to affect the global situation, and their geo-strategic status is very important. There are approximately 66 million people in Central Asian countries. In recent years, mainland China has provided a large amount of economic as-sistance and investment in Central Asian countries. In 2012, mainland China’s total trade volume in the five Central Asian countries exceeded USD 46 billion,15 and mainland China has replaced the EU as the
biggest trade partner of the Central Asian countries.16Mainland China
“Counter Terrorism Training,” The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of Shanghai
Cooperation Organization, 2013,
<http://ecrats.org/en/cooperation/anti-terror-training/>.
“Construction on third line begins for Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline,” Pipelines
International, March 2012, <http://pipelinesinternational.com/news/construction_
on_third_line_begins_for_central_asia-china_gas_pipeline/066998/>.
Wu Jiao & Zhang Yunbi, “Xi proposes a ‘new Silk Road’ with Central Asia,”
CHINADAILY, September 8, 2013,
<http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/chin-a/2013-09/08/content_16952304.htm>.
Martha Brill Olcott, “China’s Unmatched Influence in Central Asia,” Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, September 18, 2013,
is currently the largest trade partner of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the second biggest trade partner of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and the third largest trade partner of Tajikistan. In 2013, mainland China’s investment in Kazakhstan exceeded USD 20 billion, which was the highest among Central Asian countries. Kazakhstan became the country with mainland China’s third largest investment. Mainland China’s establishment of relations with five Central Asian countries and implementation of its neighborhood diplomacy policy are to ensure its economic development and social stability.17
After the Cold War, friendship between mainland China and the five countries in Central Asia after independence was enhanced.
1. Tajikistan
After establishment of diplomatic relations between mainland China and Tajikistan in 1992, former leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao made state visits to Tajikistan. On September 11, 2014, the cur-rent president, Xi Jinping, was invited to participate in the Council of Presidents of Member States of Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, and made a state visit to Tajiki-stan. The President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rakhmon, visited mainland China in 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2007, and 2013. In the past five years, the volume of mainland China-Tajikistan Bilateral Trade has in-creased 14-fold. In 2012, the volume of mainland China-Tajikistan Bi-lateral Trade was 669 million USD, which was 1/10 of the total value of production, 7.2 billion USD, in Tajikistan that year. Mainland China has become the most important trading partner of Tajikistan. Upon the demand of economic development, relations between Tajikistan and
Wu-ping Kwo, 2004. The Political and Economic developments of Central Asia
Region (Grant Number: NSC 92-2414-H-004-028). Taipei: Ministry of Science
mainland China will be enhanced in the future.18
2. Turkmenistan
In early 1992, mainland China and Turkmenistan established diplomatic relations. The leaders have visited each other several times. In December 1995, the United Nations recognized Turkmenistan as a neutralized state. In August 2005, Turkmenistan announced its withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States, dominated by Russia. In recent years, because of the energy factor, relations be-tween mainland China and Turkmenistan have strengthened. Political, trade, energy, and human cooperation between two countries are sig-nificant. Mainland China has become the largest trading partner of Turkmenistan. The trading volume between the two countries increased from 4.5 million USD in 1992 to more than ten billion in 2012. Main-land China has become the largest trading partner of Turkmenistan. Transactions of natural gas accounted for 1/3 of the GDP, 33.4 billion USD, in Turkmenistan in 2012. The Central Asia natural gas pipeline, completed in December 2009, was the largest natural gas pipeline in the world. Each year, it can supply mainland China with 40 billion m3 of natural gas.19
3. Kazakhstan
On January 3, 1992, mainland China and Kazakhstan established official diplomatic relations. In July 2005, mainland China and
Ka-“Turkey-Tajikistan trade volume reaches 600 million USD,” Anadolu Agency, January 24, 2013, <http://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/125699--turkey-tajikistans-fourth-biggest-trade-partner>.
“China targets neighbors for energy security: report-China expands investments in its region to reduce emission and reliance on coal in terms of energy security, a recent report says,” ENERGY NEW TERMINAL, September 30, 2014, <http:// www.aaenergyterminal.com/newsRegion.php?newsid=3415303>.
zakhstan constructed a strategic partnership. In June 2011, they an-nounced the development of a total strategic partnership. Kazakhstan, among the five countries of Central Asia, was the only country to establish the said relation with mainland China. Kazakhstan is also the country with the largest territory and economic capacity in Central Asia. In 2012, its GDP was 200 billion USD. In the same year, the mainland China-Kazakhstan bilateral trade volume was 25.68 billion USD. Mainland China has become the first trading partner of Ka-zakhstan. Although Kazakhstan was a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a country of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and it treated Russia as the priority of diplomacy, it adopted a practical and balanced diplomatic policy. It was also a member of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In 2003, it signed a military cooperation project with the U.S. It had a close energy and total strategic partnership with mainland China. The president of Ka-zakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and former Chinese leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao had a positive relationship, and they visited each other frequently. Xi Jinping has continued the friendly relations. In geographic and energy strategies of mainland China, Kazakhstan has been extremely important. The mainland China-Kazakhstan pe-troleum pipeline, launched in 2006, annually transports nearly 20 million tons of petroleum. Currently, Russia transports petroleum to mainland China by this pipeline.20
4. Uzbekistan
After the establishment of diplomatic relations between mainland China and Uzbekistan in January 1992, the high rank relations were enhanced. In addition, Hu Jintao visited Uzbekistan in 2010 and the
“Kazakhstan Oil Pours into China through Crossborder Pipeline,” Xinhua News
Agency, May 25, 2006,
president of Uzbekistan, Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov, visited Bei-jing in 2011 and 2012. According to the mainland China-Uzbekistan diplomatic bulletin, the two parties support the efforts to maintain the national unification and complete territory of each other. Regarding the issues of Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Tibet, Uzbekistan has always supported mainland China. Mainland China and Uzbekistan cooperated with each other to strike “three kinds of force,” regional and inter-national terrorism, religious extremism, and inter-national separatism. Uzbekistan is the country with the highest population in Central Asia, and it is a member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and has two permanent organizations. One is the secretariat in Beijing, and the other is the anti-terrorism institute in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In December 2012, Uzbekistan decided to withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organization of the Commonwealth of Independent States and developed relations with Russia, the U.S., mainland China, and Europe. In national development, it has gradually separated from Russia. In recent years, mainland China has become the second trading partner, the first investment country, and the first cotton export country of Uzbekistan. In 2012, the total production value of the country was 51.6 billion USD. In the same year, mainland China-Uzbekistan bilateral trade volume was about 2.875 billion USD.21
5. Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan and mainland China maintain a boundary of 1,100 km.22 National stability of Kyrgyzstan significantly influences the
“Chinese President: Uzbekistan is strategic partner of China,” Uzdaily, October 5, 2013, <http://www.uzdaily.com/articles-id-24579.htm>.
Russell Hsiao, “Implications of Kyrgyzstan Revolt on China’s Xinjiang Policy,”
The Jamestown Foundation, April 16, 2010,
<http://www.jamestown.org/prog-rams/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=36263&tx_ttnews% 5BbackPid%5D=25&cHash=dcb1ca828a>.
Xinjiang area of mainland China. Kyrgyzstan is member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. After 9/11, the American army was stationed in Central Asia. In March 2003, the U.S. dispatched soldiers to Iraq and, with the disagreement of Russia and concern of countries in Central Asia on policy of the U.S., mainland China en-hanced the existence of Central Asia. In 2003, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization constructed an anti-terrorism center in Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan. On August 23 of the same year, they held united military maneuvers and indicated the existence of mainland China in Central Asia. In 2012, Kyrgyzstan encountered internal turmoil, and the presi-dent, Almazbek Atambayev, asked for troops from mainland China and Russia. In 2012, the China-Kyrgyzstan trading volume was 1.27 billion USD. In the same year, Kyrgyzstan’s GDP was 6.1 billion USD. Mainland China has become the second trading partner of Kyrgyzstan.
IV. Mainland China’s Neighborhood Policy and Deeds
for Central Asian Countries
Mainland China’s neighborhood policy and deeds for Central Asian countries can be observed from four aspects: strengthening political mutual trust, reinforcing economic mutual benefits and co-operation, jointly fighting for security and fighting terrorism, and promoting social and cultural exchanges. 2014 is the year of mainland China’s “home-court diplomacy.” In addition to the APEC meetings held in Beijing in October, the Conference on Interaction and Con-fidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), held in Shanghai in May, is a very important security cooperation conference in Asia. One of these two major conferences focuses on economic issues, while the other focuses on security. In CICA, Xi Jinping proposed common security, cooperative security, and comprehensive security, which form a new Asian security point of view aiming to construct a peaceful,
stable, and cooperative new Asia. Central Asians are the focus of CICA. This new Asian security point of view fully reflects mainland China’s politica l mutual trust in its neighborhood policy for Central Asian countries.23
Xi Jinping proposed a “Silk Road Economic Belt” in an interview in Kazakhstan in September 2013. According to Xi Jinping’s idea, the “Silk Road Economic Belt” will create common wealth for human civilization with a peaceful, friendly, open, and win-win spirit and provide the opportunity of economic and trade development for ma-inland China and Central Asian countries. Its objective is to create a cooperative and win-win situation, as well as a community of interests.24 The Silk Road Economic Belt will become mainland
China’s most important neighborhood policy for Central Asian coun-tries. 2013 was mainland China’s year to focus on its neighborhood diplomacy policy for Central Asian countries, as well as the year when mainland China fully promoted its neighborhood diplomacy in neighboring Central Asian countries. The main activities are as follows.
1. Intensive High-level Meetings to Increase Political Mutual Trust
In April and May 2013, the presidents of Kazakhstan and Ta-jikistan, respectively, visited mainland China. Afterwards, in Sep-tember, Xi Jinping visited four Central Asian countries in one journey. In September 2013, Xi Jinping addressed Nazarbayev University of
Shannon Tiezzi, “At CICA, Xi Calls for New Regional Security Architecture: Xi sees CICA as the basis for a new regional security architecture for Asia, re-placing the current alliance system,” The Diplomat, May 22, 2014, <http://the-diplomat.com/2014/05/at-cica-xi-calls-for-new-regional-security-architecture/>. “President Xi Jinping proposes to build a Silk Road Economic Belt with Central Asian countries,” China.org.cn, November 1, 2013, <http://www.china.org.cn/ travel/revitalize_the_silk_road_in_Shaanxi/2013-11/01/content_30468580.htm>.
Kazakhstan, and emphasized that: “Our policy is three goods and three NOs, namely, mainland China will be a good neighbor, a good friend, and a good partner, and mainland China will never intervene with domestic affairs of Central Asian countries, will not seek domi-nance over regional affairs, and will not operate any sphere of influ-ence.”25 After establishing a strategic partnership with Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan, mainland China also established one with the other three Central Asian countries. Among them, Turkmenistan is a per-manently neutral country. Nevertheless, it also established a strategic partnership with mainland China, suggesting that there is a unique mutual trust between them. In September 2013, the 13thSCO Summit
was held in Bishkek, where the presidents of the five countries also signed the 2013-2017 Implementation Outline on the Treaty of
Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.26
2. Economic and Trade Energy Cooperation and Mutual Benefit
From 1992 to 2012, the trade volume between mainland China and Central Asian countries increased 100-fold, from USD 460 million to USD 46 billion. In addition, the increase over the recent two years has been very significant. The trade volume with Kazakhstan alone in 2015 is expected reach USD 40 billion, reflecting mainland China’s important role in the economic development of Central Asian countries. In terms of cooperation in the field of energy, the current amount of petroleum exported from Kazakhstan to mainland China per year rea-ched 20 million tons. The annual amount of natural gas exported
“Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at Nazarbayev University,” People, September 7, 2013, <http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/74838/368833/index.html>. “Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of the 14thmeeting Press Release,” EN NEWS 163, September 13, 2014, <http://www.enews163. com/2014/09/13/shanghai-cooperation-organization-sco-council-of-the-14th-meeting-press-release-60585.html>.
from Turkmenistan to the cities in the southeast region of mainland China in 2016 is expected to reach 65 billion m3, which will meet
the need of half of mainland China. Petroleum and natural gas are the main foreign exchange earnings of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, suggesting that there is a mutual benefit and win-win situation in economic and trade energy cooperation between mainland China and Central Asian countries.
3. Jointly Standing against Terrorism and Maintaining Security
The countries under the SCO framework have continued holding counter-terrorism joint military exercises for many years. Moreover, mainland China and Central Asian countries have claimed that they will support and cooperate with one another to fight against three forces, international terrorism, ethnic separatism, and religious ex-tremism, as well as transnational organized crimes, such as drug traf-ficking, in the issues involving major core interests, such as national sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, and stability.
4. Promoting Social and Cultural Exchanges
Mainland China has established more than 10 Confucius Institutes in Central Asian countries.27 There has been increasing cultural
co-Confucius Institutes are non-profit educational institutions established and pro-moted by mainland China. They provide people in various places around the world with the chance to learn Chinese and increase their understanding of Chinese language and culture. They also facilitate China’s educational and cultural exchanges and cooperation with various countries around the world and the development of friendly relations with them. As of 2014, 4 Confucius Institutes were established in Kazakhstan, 3 were established in Kyrgyzstan, 2 were established in Uzbekistan, and 1 was established in Tajikistan. Agricultural Confucius Institute is going to be established in Kazakhstan in the near future. See “About Us: Hanban,” Confucius Institute Headquarters, 2014, <http://www. hanban.edu.cn/confuciousinstitutes/node_10961.htm>.
operation, and various cultural exchange activities, such as art festivals, music festivals, Youth Day, exhibitions, and forums, have been held many times. Under the SCO framework, mainland China has trained thousands of management and professional talents in different fields in Central Asian member countries. In the next 10 years, mainland China will provide 30,000 government scholarships to SCO member countries and invite 10,000 teachers and students of Confucius Institutes to study in mainland China. This reflects mainland China’s proactive neighborhood diplomacy policy for Central Asian countries.
5. Friendly Function of Platform of Shanghai Cooperation Or-ganization
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an important mecha-nism in Central Asia to maintain national security and develop the economy. It is the critical platform between mainland China and countries of Central Asia to develop national relations. Currently, in-ternational and regional situations are complicated and changeable. In Central Asia, threats of “three kinds of force,” national separatism, religious extremism, and international terrorism, have been increasing. Mainland China and the countries of Central Asia encounter the same threats and challenges. They expect to enhance anti-terrorism in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The key tasks of the previous conferences were anti-terrorism cooperation and trading cooperation. For instance, on September 11 of this year, President Xi Jinping was present at the 14thconference of Council of leaders of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Be-sides the anti-terrorism issue, they proposed active participation in the construction of an economic belt of the Silk Road with funds and banks of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. These issues are urgent for countries in Central Asia. It certainly enhanced the friendly between mainland China and countries of Central Asia.28
V. Inspection on the Effectiveness of Mainland China’s
Neighborhood Diplomacy for Central Asian Countries
Mainland China has become an important global power. When dealing with diplomatic affairs with neighboring countries, mainland China has to take into account its own national interests, pay attention to its national image, and improve its relations with neighboring countries. Nevertheless, it is a pity that, when faced with a major in-ternational issue, mainland China tends to claim that it will follow the basic principles of Charter of the United Nations and will not in-tervene with other countries’ domestic affairs and sovereignty. There-fore, mainland China seems unhelpful in international issues. In ad-dition, mainland China usually responds to international issues pas-sively. At present, tensions are rising in mainland China’s relations with neighboring countries, such as North Korea, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India. Mainland China is long-term supporter of North Korea political power and has provided it with a large amount of economic assistance. Nevertheless, North Korea has refused to a ccept mainland China’s comments on nuclear trials and launches of rockets. Mainland China also has failed to resolve the controversy over the territorial rights of Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands with Japan. Mainland China also leads conflicts in the South China Sea in how it handles the territorial disputes against Vietnam and the Philippines. All of the aforementioned deeds are completely opposed to mainland China’s neighborhood diplomacy policy and have undermined its ef-fectiveness, suggesting that there is a lack of systematic diplomacy policy and a lack of complete precautious measures in mainland China to resolve conflicts.
“Speech of Xi Jinping in the 14thconference of Council of leaders of member states in Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” International Daily News, Sep-tember 13, 2014, <http://www.chinesetoday.com/big/ar ticle/921688>.
Mainland China’s political, economic, and cultural exchanges and relations with Central Asian countries are very close, which are similar to its relations with Russia. Such friendly partnerships and relations are unprecedented. Mainland China has promoted the es-tablishment of a unified economic space in neighboring Central Asian countries under the SCO framework. Nevertheless, Russia views Cen-tral Asian countries as its core sphere of influence. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia (currently, Eurasian Economic Community, EAEC), founded by Russia, started to function late last year. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan also may join it in the future. Competition over economic cooperation between EAEC and SCO is foreseeable. Mainland China intends to establish a traffic route in Central Asian countries. Never-theless, the construction of mainland China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway still is pending because Russia has different comments and the issue of diffe rence in width of track in various countries has not been resolved. Apparently, mainland China’s expansion of relations with Central Asian countries also is affected by its competition with Russia for interests. In late 2013, when mainland China fully elevated the strategic partnership with Central Asian countries, Russia happened to start the operation of EAEC. How mainland China will implement its neighborhood diplomacy policy to promote the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and create a mutual benefit and win-win communities of interests with Central Asian countries is left to be observed.
Within the recent two years, hundreds of violent incidents of all scales have taken place in mainland China and Central Asian countries.29 Mainland China and the five Central Asian countries
In recent years, knife massacres, riots, and explosions by Uyghur people have taken place in Tiananmen, Beijing, Kunming, Yunnan Province, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, Shache (Yarkant) County, and Kaxgar (Kashi) Prefecture. In addition, hundreds
jointly have strengthened counter-terrorism cooperation and improved counter-terrorism mechanisms to meet the security needs of mainland China and various Central Asian countries. In September 2013, Xi Jinping also signed the SCO Convention and Cooperation Outline against Terrorism, Separatism, and Extremism during his visit in Central Asian countries, suggesting that counter-terrorism cooperation is important in mainland China’s relations with Central Asian countries. The major regional organizations in Central Asia are the Central Asian Economic Union, Central Asian Economic Cooperation, SCO, Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and Eurasian Econo-mic Community (EAEC). Mainland China mainly implements its neighborhood diplomacy policy, provides and maintains regional se-curity, facilitates multilateral trade and economic cooperation, and expands bilateral and multilateral cultural exchanges and cooperation through “SCO.” Nevertheless, among all of the regional organizations in Central Asia, mainland China still cannot join the “Collective Se-curity Treaty Organization” and “EAEC” founded by Russia. Although mainland China intends to use its neighborhood diplomacy policy to strengthen relations with Central Asian countries, Central Asian coun-tries are afraid of the rapidly rising mainland China and its excessive intervention with the economy in Central Asia. They still take pre-cautions against mainland China.30
of violence incidents have occurred in Central Asian countries, suggesting that the terrorism activities and violent incidents in Uyghuristan are on the rise. Please reter to “Five Ruffians Killed in Shache Attack,” World Journal, August 3, 2014, <http://www.worldjournal.com/view/full_anews/25546484/article-%E8%8E%8E %E8%BB%8A%E8%A5%B2%E6%93%8A%E6%A1%88-%E6%93%8A%E6% 96%8359%E6%9A%B4%E5%BE%92?instance=hot>.
“Conversations between Minister for Foreign Affairs in Japan and Those in Five Central Asian Countries” was held in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. After the meeting, the ministers for foreign affairs of six countries issued a
VI. Conclusion
In 1954, Zhou Enlai proposed Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence in the Asian-African Conference in Indonesia, which was the first neighborhood diplomacy policy in mainland China. Mainland China had just established its regime at that time and had to gain in-ternational support. Today, mainland China is rapidly rising, and has become the global great power that is only second to the U.S. To prevent other countries from excessively worrying about “China Threat Theory” and to gain support from neighboring countries, main-land China re-proposed this neighborhood diplomacy policy in order to stabilize its surroundings and fully develop its economy.
Central Asia is adjacent to mainland China’s northwest region. Its stability not only involves China’s energy supply and economic development, but also affects the security issue of separatism of Xinjiang in mainland China. Mainland China cannot divert its attention to its southeast, East China Sea, and South China Sea until it strengthens its relations with Central Asian countries, expands its participation in relevant Central Asian regional organizations, or uses SCO to solidify and extend its influence on Central Asia. If the cooperation among the U.S., Russia, and mainland China in Central Asia is more than competition, it will be relatively beneficial to their national de-velopment. If not, it will be relatively unfavorable to their national
joint statement about mainland China anonymously: “We have confirmed that, based on the principles of international laws and the importance of peaceful settlement of disputes, our territory and boundary shall not be invaded. We shall give up using any power to threaten any country or striking force in international relations.” International press describes it as a “Statement that Contains China.” See Guo Qiong, “ “Japan and Five Central Asian Countries’ Joint Statement” to Contain China,” BBC Chinese, July 17, 2014, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/ trad/world/2014/07/140717_central_asia_plus_japan_dialogue.shtml>.
development. To Central Asian countries, the co-competition relations among the U.S., Russia, and mainland China in Central Asia certainly affect the stability and development in Central Asia. Nevertheless, when mainland China is rising and is strengthening i ts neighborhood diplomatic policy and establishing strategic partnership with Central Asian countries to pursue for geo-strategic security and national in-terests, the balance of powers in Central Asia certainly will be affected. Moreover, the impact on co-competitor relations between the U.S., Russia, and mainland China in Central Asia and the influence on se-curity of the Asia-Pacific area and even cross-Strait relations are worthy of attention.
According to analysis of current studies, under the authoritative governance of countries in Central Asia, some regions have encountered the serious problem of corruption. The gap between the rich and poor has increased, the living level has reduced, and social security has become a concern. “Three kinds of power” have been launched. Nevertheless, there is dissatisfaction with the governments of Central Asia that have had close cooperation with mainland China. People in Central Asia have tended to question and resist mainland China. Some of them even have thought that mainland China is the new economic imperialist in Central Asia. Diplomatic, military, political, and economic measures adopted by the Chinese government to deal with the threat of social turmoil in Central Asia, Xinjiang, or the bi-lateral relationship can be further observed. Energy resources of Central Asia have been transported to different places in mainland China in significant amounts. Since there is the demand for a great amount of energy in the economic development of Taiwan, how to introduce the energy resources of Central Asia and Russia from main-land China is an issue to be discussed.
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Research Report
Kwo, Wu-ping, 2004. The Political and Economic developments of
Central Asia Region (Grant Number: NSC 92-2414-H-004-028).
