China’s Strategy in Xinjiang and Central Asia: Toward Chinese Hegemony in the "Geographical Pivot of History"?

Abstract

Since September 11, 2001, and the subsequent U.S. politico-military penetration of Central Asia, there has been much speculation regarding China's perceived strategic "defeat" in that region, which is said to have compromised China's long-term plans regarding the integration of Xinjiang. This paper, however, will argue that the strategic implications of the U.S. penetration of Central Asia have in fact resulted in the re-invigoration and reinforcement of China's goal and instruments of integration in Xinjiang. This dynamic has been expressed within Xinjiang, in the form of the strengthening of the major instruments of internal control and development, and externally in the form of China's foreign policy calculus in the context of its relations with the states of Central Asia.