Tag Archives: foreign policy

History is marked by a series of conflicts – kinetic and potential; Chinese activities in Central Asia are exemplary of this. On December 14, 2009, Turkmenistan began its exportation of 40 billion cubic meters (bcm hereafter) of natural gas to the Chinese Xinjiang Province, with contributions of 10 bcm from both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan over 30 years. Historically, Turkmenistan has exported gas through Russia en route to China yet this particular deal conveniently bypasses Russia. To complicate matters more, the European Union shares an interest in this region vis-à-vis their Nabucco gas line planned to run through southern Europe into Turkey. Needless to say that while much commotion is made over oil and gas bonanzas in the Middle East these days, nations like Turkmenistan and other central Asian countries have untapped oil and gas reserves and naturally stand as open targets as both potential trading partners and secondary allies for nations such as China, whose intentions are altogether unknown. As such, the benevolent guise of trade very easily becomes the hook by which nations such as China are able to rally seemingly insignificant states to their side. In essence, while the powerful nations of today are playing hard politics in the Middle East, China is playing soft politics in Central Asia as a precursor to the domino effect in that region with Turkmenistan as the battlefield for trading rights.
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