New forms of peripheral geopolitics in Central Asia under the “Greater China” Era

Principle Investigator：Allen Chun

This research stems from cultural theories, and recently leads me to the identity crisis experienced in Inter-Asian interaction. Identification is politicized, within which the forces of colonialism, nationalism, capitalism, and globalization have been institutionalized, and that has led to specific state policies, class struggles and mass imaginations.  The rise of Greater China has undoubtedly reconstructed the relations among East Asian societies, but the Central Asian region has also been presenting another form of geopolitical model, which has been influenced by complex factors not only from China, Russia and Western Europeans, but also from negotiating factors of ethnicity, religion, and classes. In 2013, China officially put forth the “Belt and Road” policy and announced its multilateral partnerships with neighboring states. From Central to South and Southeast Asian regions, China has dedicated itself to build up infrastructures and railways to connect Europe. This specific infrastructural investment is seen as the Silk Road Project for the 21st century, and is claimed as a neutral model of economic cooperation and China's global politics. In sum, Central Asia as China’s “another side of the periphery” and its specific experience and challenges are able to expand the inter-Asian research insight which stems from East Asian point of view. For the Belt and Road Policy, this kind of careful distinction is better than existing extreme interpretations, such as the modern rationalization of the ancient Silk Road, or the trendy theory of exploitative debt colonialism that is popular in contemporary social science research.