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Abstract
Russia and China have been pursuing the Eurasian Economic Union and the One Belt, One Road initiative since the early 2010s, employing two distinct sets of practices in their respective influence-building endeavours. Russia is interested in creating an exclusive sphere of influence in the post-Soviet space, in order to bolster its great power status and secure regional primacy. China, in turn, is expanding its economic influence over a vast geographical area disguising economic expansion behind multilateralism. These differences make Sino–Russian competition in Central Asia less plausible.
Notes
1 ‘Rise of the Regional Hegemons’, Wall Street Journal, 25 May 2015.
2 Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (Beijing, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, with State Council authorisation, 2015).
3 The organisation became operational in January 2012.
4 ‘China Operationalises USD 40 billion Silk Road Fund’, Business Standard, 5 February 2015.
5 Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (Beijing, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, with State Council authorisation, 2015).
6 Essential Guide to Understanding Belt and Road Initiative, Xinhua, 13 May 2017, available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/13/c_136279142.htm, accessed 20 July 2017.
7 Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (Beijing, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, with State Council authorisation, 2015).
8 ‘Welcome Aboard the Train of China’s Development’, Xinhua, 28 May 2015.
9 Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (Beijing, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, with State Council authorisation, 2015).
10 See also Liu (Citation2015).
11 ‘China’s Belt and Road Initiatives Not Solo, but Symphony: FM’, China Daily, 8 March 2015.
12 The Chinese government launched the ‘Go-West’ strategy in 2000. Its aim was to boost economic development in 12 western provincial-level regions: Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, and Qinghai.
13 Interview with four Chinese experts from a governmental think tank (three male, one female), experts in post-Soviet politics, Warsaw, 19 May 2015.
14 ‘China’s Silk Road initiative a partnership project, not competitor: Russian PM’, Xinhua, 22 August 2015.
15 These include connections to Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, and Spain.
16 ‘Kazakhstan: Balance of Payments and External Debt for 2015’, National Bank of Kazakhstan, 2016, p. 118, available at: http://m.nationalbank.kz/cont/%D0%BF%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F%20%D0%9F%D0%91%20%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB.pdf, accessed 20 July 2017.
17 ‘Kyrgyzstan: Russia Cancels Debts, but Credit Pile Remains High’, EurasiaNet, 4 May 2017, available at: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/83451, accessed 20 July 2017.
18 See the webpage of the Eurasian Development Bank and the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development, available at: https://eabr.org/en/about/line-of-activity/; https://efsd.eabr.org/en/, accessed 20 July 2017.
19 Uzbekistan used to be a member of EurAsEC but it decided to leave the grouping in the early 2010s.
20 ‘Aiming High: Russia, Kazakhstan Agree on Joint Air Defense System’, RT, 30 January 2013.
21 Interview with four Chinese experts from a governmental think tank (three male, one female), experts in post-Soviet politics, Warsaw, 19 May 2015.
22 China’s Ministry of Commerce, available at: http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/sys/print.shtml?/zt_businessreview/news/201503/20150300908061, accessed 15 April 2016.
23 The ‘Bright Road’ economic strategy was proclaimed by Kazakhstan’s leader Nursultan Nazarbaev in 2015. Its primary goal is to stimulate economic growth, including by means of infrastructure construction. Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli said, during his official visit to Kazakhstan (in June 2015), that the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative brought up by Xi and the ‘Path of Light’ (also translated as the ‘Bright Road’) economic strategy proposed by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev are highly compatible. See also, ‘China, Kazakhstan Agree to Integrate Growth Strategies’, Xinhua, 27 June 2015; ‘Kazakhstan and China Reach Consensus on Advancing Cooperation’, Xinhua, 26 August 2015.
24 China’s Ministry of Commerce, available at: http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/sys/print.shtml?/zt_businessreview/news/201503/20150300908061, accessed 15 April 2016.