IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v4y2018i1d10.1057_s41599-018-0125-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Re-centering Central Asia: China’s “New Great Game” in the old Eurasian Heartland

Author

Listed:
  • Xiangming Chen

    (Trinity College
    Fudan University)

  • Fakhmiddin Fazilov

    (Independent scholar)

Abstract

China’s President Xi Jinping’s Central Asian tour in fall 2013 marked Beijing’s unprecedented (re)turn to Central Asia as a lynchpin of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” of the globally ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China’s BRI positions Central Asia as the crucial nexus for the cross-regional long-distance loops of trade, investment, and infrastructure development. By revisiting the classical geopolitical theory about the original Eurasian Heartland and its contemporary offshoots, we extract some insights for understanding the new China-Central Asia transboundary regional nexus. In a double-pronged empirical analysis of China’s development strategies regarding Central Asia, we examine: (1) the construction of oil and gas pipelines from Central Asia to transmit energy all the way to China’s east coast, and (2) the launch and expansion of the Eurasian Railroad to transport goods from China’s manufacturing bases in both coastal and inland regions to Europe and Central Asia. In synthesizing the findings from this coupled analysis through classical and contemporary theoretical lenses, we discuss how China’s growing influence in Central Asia via the BRI can reshape the region’s diverse national interests, development opportunities and constraints while fostering closer China-Central Asia bilateral cooperation across multiple national boundaries. In light of the analysis, we also offer an updated view and critique of the classical Heartland/Rimland theories and discuss how a China-centric “New Great Game” differs from its original nineteenth century antecedent while pointing to similar underpinnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiangming Chen & Fakhmiddin Fazilov, 2018. "Re-centering Central Asia: China’s “New Great Game” in the old Eurasian Heartland," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:4:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-018-0125-5
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-018-0125-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-018-0125-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-018-0125-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiangming Chen, 2018. "Globalisation redux: can China’s inside-out strategy catalyse economic development and integration across its Asian borderlands and beyond?," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 11(1), pages 35-58.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhao, Na, 2019. "Managing interactive collaborative mega project supply chains under infectious risks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 275-286.
    2. Roslina Ismail & Jumadil Saputra & Azlina Abdul Aziz, 2019. "Improving Environmental Performance of the Muslim World: Evidence from Affluent Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(3), pages 301-312.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gürel, Burak & Kozluca, Mina, 2022. "Chinese investment in Turkey: the Belt and Road Initiative, rising expectations and ground realities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113841, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Tristan Kohl, 2019. "The Belt and Road Initiative’s effect on supply-chain trade: evidence from structural gravity equations," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 12(1), pages 77-104.
    3. Lapinskaitė Indrė & Vidžiūnaitė Silvija, 2020. "Assessment of the Sustainable Economic Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth in G20 Countries," Economics and Culture, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 116-125, June.
    4. Ali, Usman & Li, Yanxi & Wang, Jian-Jun & Yue, Xiaohang & Chang, Ai-Chih (Jasmine), 2021. "Dynamics of outward FDI and productivity spillovers in logistics services industry: Evidence from China," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    5. Soraya Caro Vargas, editor, 2020. "Economic Corridors in Asia: Paradigm of Integration? A Reflection for Latin America," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Finanzas, Gobierno y Relaciones Internacionales, number 139, August.
    6. Liu, Zhigao & Schindler, Seth & Liu, Weidong, 2020. "Demystifying Chinese overseas investment in infrastructure: Port development, the Belt and Road Initiative and regional development," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:4:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-018-0125-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.