The Rising China doesn’t seem to expand into Central Asia

2012-01-12 (China Military News cited from theatlantic.com and by Joshua Foust) — Debating China’s role in the world, or in neighboring regions, has become something of a blood sport: policy wonks love debating it and watching the debates about it, while normal people wonder if they should be relieved or worried about it. For the last few months, two very smart analysts, Alexandros Petersen and Raffaello Pantucci, have been publishing their analyses of China’s supposed push for influence in Central Asia. There are reasons to be skeptical of the broad argument (see some of that here and here). There is not much evidence that China has been terribly active or even successful in building a network of influence in the region. But today, Alexandros published a provocative new twist on the debate at Steve LeVine’s Foreign Policy blog:

    It would be more accurate to say that Beijing’s choice of Turkmen, Kazakh and Uzbek gas over Russian has forced Gazprom to reassess its regional strategy. While price negotiations with Moscow have slogged on over the last five years, the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has cobbled together and upgraded largely existing transportation infrastructure to create the China-Central Asia gas pipeline (pictured above). The resulting shift in the region’s energy geopolitics reflects China’s rise.

    It also reveals a Beijing whose intentions are inherently geopolitical. The deliverable for Beijing is stability — client states with predictable, subservient governments. The Chinese analysis is that they are the adults in Central Asia, while Russian and Western actors breed instability.

What’s so interesting about Alexandros’ argument is the number of Chinese analysts and officials he quotes as disagreeing with him. Indeed, as with the first piece they published last year, the arguments for Chinese motivations and plans are implied, but not actually proven or even supported factually.

Few would argue that China isn’t expanding its economic presence in Central Asia. But that expansion hasn’t been without its hiccups or resistance. In 2007, for example, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said very explicitly that he was unhappy with the unbalanced economic relationship between Astana and Beijing. Earlier this year, Eurasianet ran a story detailing the resentment many Kyrgyzstanis feel at China’s overpowering economy as well. And Tajikistan’s parliamentary vote to cede some territory to China a year ago sparked unease both within Tajikistan and within neighboring countries.

So while China might want to have a stronger presence in the region (and again there’s not really much evidence for that apart from tea leaf reading), it is not a done deal. Locals remain unsure. But then this bit leaped out:

    A CNPC representative put it in these terms: “Some regional partners like to use our presence as a foreign policy tool.” He was quick to add, “Chinese companies are not involved in politics.” I heard the terms “non-interference” and “harmonious relations” more times than I could count. But, addressing the Turkmen deal directly, a senior policymaker with the Chinese energy ministry said, “Energy is the basis for a wider relationship with Turkmenistan, which we see as a major, long-term partner in the region.” Kazakhstan has far more oil, in addition to much natural gas, but Turkmenistan appears to be at least equivalent and perhaps more consequential to China. When I asked whether the relationship with Turkmenistan was important in diversifying China’s energy import options in light of recent civil unrest in Kazakhstan, he answered simply, “Yes.”

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