The EU and China: how do they fit in Central Asia?

ABSTRACT

Since the collapse of the USSR, the European Union (EU) and China have launched a range of leadership initiatives in Central Asia. Focusing on non-traditional security, connectivity and water management cooperation, this paper contributes to the special issue by highlighting the evolution of the EU's goals and practices in Central Asia, contrasting them with China's leadership strategy, and discussing implications for states in the region. The EU and China have diverging approaches to Central Asia due to differences in foreign policy goals and domestic politics. Nevertheless, as of now there seems to be no rivalry between their projects, as neither claims sole leadership nor builds formal institutions with exclusive membership. The presence of two very different leaders is beneficial for Central Asian states as it has allowed them to draw more material resources, generate new ideas, diversify partners and balance external influence.

KEYWORDS:

• leadership
• Central Asia
• China
• Belt and Road Initiative
• European Union

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Karolina Kluczewska, Oleg Korneev, Rick Fawn and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback and comments on the earlier draft of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Non-traditional security is a broad concept that includes environmental security, economic security, etc. We focus on cooperation targeted at controlling borders and fighting terrorism and drug-trafficking, because these issues are interconnected and require a coordinated response. Water management, another non-traditional security issue, is discussed in a separate section because motivations for cooperation, institutions and normative support differ significantly from those initiatives aimed at improving border control or fighting terrorism.

2 We focus on those types of infrastructure that require collective action and provide an opportunity for leadership.

3 Calculated by the authors based on the data from the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan (n.d.); United Nations (n.d.); Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Uzbekistan (n.d.); and Central Asia Drug Action Programme (CADAP) (n.d.).

4 The EU also cooperates with and provides financial contributions to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), while EU member states are also NATO members; both organizations run security programmes in Central Asia.

5 For a more detailed discussion of ‘mutual peripherality’ as a factor in EU–Central Asia relations, see Dzhuraev (2022) in this issue.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) [grant number 19-014-00030].