HOW THE WEST WAS WON: China's Expansion into Central Asia.

• Author: Cotter, Amb. Michael

HOW THE WEST WAS WON: China's Expansion into Central Asia

http://www.cria-online.org/7_8.html

By Henri Szadziewski

Reviewed by Amb. Michael Cotter

There is little enough material available in the West on developments in the most critical region on our globe--Central Asia--and many readers would not generally look to a publication that focuses on the Caucasus for useful insights into developments in Central Asia. Like American Diplomacy, which publishes a broader range of material than the title indicates, the Caucasus Review of International Affairs covers a much broader geographic range. This article is a splendid example.

In recent decades China has increased its political and economic activities in Central Asia markedly. The effort received new emphasis following the fall of the Soviet Union, after which the former Soviet Republics in the region gained their independence. That event not only opened up commercial opportunities for China, but also resulted in a more active movement for either greater autonomy or independence (depending on who is talking) among the Uyghur ethnic group that predominates in the Western Chinese Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the subsequent U.S.-led military action to remove the Taliban government in Afghanistan also had the effect of raising the Chinese government's expressions of concern about the activities of Uyghur nationalists.

Similar to its policy in Tibet, another...