Towards a new silk road ? Assessing China’s new influence in Central Asia

Since the economic and financial crisis of 2008, China’s role in Central Asia’s political economy has become significant. In Xi Jinping’s initiative of a « new silk road economic belt » connecting China to Europe, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan are playing a central role in Beijing’s new economic development strategy. However the boom in commercial exchanges between China and the Central Asian countries is unfolding against a backdrop of high political instability in the region and a shaky Sino-Russian relationship. The seminar will focus on the political issues at stake in the recent Sino-Central Asian rapprochement. Specifically, it will look at the extent to which Beijing has been able to contain the nationalist aspirations expressed by minority populations straddling the Sino-Central Asian borders.

This seminar will be in French.

Speakers :

Marlène Laruelle, Research Professor of International Affairs; Director, Central Asia Program; Associate Director, Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

Rémi Castets, Associate Professor, University of Bordeaux Montaigne

Discussant: Juliette Genevaz, TransAtlantic Postdoctoral fellow (TAPIR), Center for Asian Studies, Ifri

Chair: Françoise Nicolas, Senior Research Fellow and Director, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri

The report (in French) is available for download below.