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China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly Journal

  

 

 

 

   


The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly is an English language Web-based journal devoted to the analysis of the current issues facing China and Eurasia, as well as the growing relationship between the two. The aim is to provide readers with reliable assessment of events and trends in this important part of the world. It also serves to link the business, governmental, journalistic and scholarly communities and is the global voice of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program. The journal can also be obtained in print for a fee.

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 8, No. 4, 2010 (Full Report). This issue contains two commentaries, first, on remittances by migrants workers to the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan in the wake of the global economic crisis, and second, an account of Kazakh-Sino relations from a Kazakh's perspective. The analytical articles in this issue include discussion on the state of EU-Central Asian affairs, U.S. foreign policy approach towards Iran’s controversial nuclear program, and an account of Uyghur Diasporic Nationalism. These are followed by articles on recent energy developments in Eurasia, the roles of China and Russia in the SCO, Sino-Indian trade relations in the context of their ongoing border disputes, and finally, a discussion on the rise of China using realist perspectives to shed light on whether a Sino-Russian alliance will form, and if so, the likelihood of war between great powers, notably the United States and China.

Commentaries

Analytical Articles

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 8, No. 3, 2010. This is a special issue on Turkmenistan prepared by Luca Anceschi and Sébastien Peyrouse. It also contains general articles about China's policy towards Afghanistan, cross-border pipelines, the use of traditional medicine in Uzbekistan, the U.S.-Russia "military airbase race" in Central Asia, and labor migration from Central Asia to Russia.

Special Issue: Turkmenistan

General

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 8, No. 2, Summer 2010 (Full Report).  This is a special guest edited issue prepared by Carol Dumaine and L. Sergio Germani on the theme of Energy, Environment and the Future of Security in Central Asia.

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 8, No. 1, Spring 2010 (Full Report) contains articles on elections in Uzbekistan; the roles of Great Powers in Afghanistan and Central Asia; the history of the Fedayeen during the Second World War; the city of Shihezi in Xinjiang; Caspian energy security; Iran's petroleum legal framework; and lessons for Europe from the 2009 Russia-Ukraine Gas crisis.

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 7, No. 4, December 2009 (Full Report):

  • Editor's Note
    Sébastien Peyrouse
     
  • Spain and Central Asia: Prospects for 2010
    Nicola?s de Pedro

    During the first six months of 2010, Spain holds the European Union Presidency. At the same time Kazakhstan would be chairing the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Uzbekistan would be chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). This triple coincidence has awoken numerous expectations in the three capitals, due to, on one hand, the prospect (...)
     
  • Notes on the Chinese Government's Handling of the Urumqi Riot in Xinjiang
    Yuhui Li

    China is facing the daunting task of finding appropriate measures to deal with the aftermath of the bloodiest ethnic violence in decades in Xinjiang on July 5, 2009. The riot took place in Urumqi, the region’s capital city, and caused the deaths of nearly 200 people and injury to at least 1,700. On December 30, 2009, nearly six months after the riot, the information office of Xinjiang announced that internet services (...)
     
  • Reassessing the SCO Economic Security in the Context of the "Afghan Factor"
    Azganush A. Migranyan

    In the light of contemporary political and economic threats such as terrorism, economic and financial crises, shortages of resources, and global environmental problems, regional security issues have been elevated to paramount importance. But while the need to establish regional economic security among the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states (...)
     
  • Competition for Water Resources in Central Asia and its Impact on China
    Li Lifan

    Water has unique features that make it difficult to regulate using laws designed mainly for land. Water is mobile, its supply varies by year and season as well as location, and the same source can be used simultaneously by many users. The National Analysis and Research Group from the Chinese Academy of Sciences published its eighth research report in 2009 (...)
     
  • Peeling the Waziristan Onion: Central Asians in Armed Islamist Movements in Afghanistan and Pakistan
    Peter Sinnott

    The specter of a force of close to five thousand Uzbek Islamic militants throughout the Tribal Areas of North and South Waziristan was presented to a Pakistan senate committee in September 2009 by Senator Muhammad Ibrahim Khan. The history and motivation of the Central Asian forces that have been in Waziristan (...)
     
  • Central Asia and the European Union: Prospects of an Energy Partnership
    Luba Azarch

    Launched in 2007, the “Strategy for a New Partnership” has increasingly put Central Asia into the focus of European foreign policy. Seeking to combine a regulatory and developmental approach with its interests in the economic, energy, and security realms, the EU hopes to deepen the relationship with the region. The following analysis will deal with the European ambitions (...)
     
  • Between Russia and the West: Turkey as an Emerging Power and the Case of Abkhazia
    Laurent Vinatier

    Turkey’s foreign policy finds itself in transition. Considering the new emerging context and the constraints that Turkey faces, it is essential to assess the real determinants which would transform Turkish foreign policy to encompass a more pro-active, independent, and regional strategy. Abkhazia, since its recognition by Russia on August 26, 2008, is examined here as a case study. South Caucasian issues (...)
     
  • Turkey in the Eurasian Energy Security Melting Pot
    Thrassy N. Marketos

    This article focuses on the theoretical, but also realistic, question about Turkey’s future geostrategic orientation. More precisely, the question of whether Ankara will play a role in the international arena as a bridge maker between Washington’s political realism and the EU’s soft power, or whether it will instead pursue a new Ottoman nationalism (...)
     
  • The Three Blind Spots of Afghanistan: Water Flow, Irrigation Development, and the Impact of Climate Change
    David W. Rycroft and Kai Wegerich

    The article discusses the three blind spots of northern Afghanistan: water flow, irrigation development, and the impact of climate change. Consideration is given to the different data sets for the current irrigated areas, water resources, and future potentials according to identified projects in northern Afghanistan. The water accounting programme WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning System) has then (...)

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 7, No. 3, October 2009 (Full Report):

  • Editor's Note
    Sébastien Peyrouse
     
  • Presidential Elections in Kyrgyzstan: Strategies, Context, and Implications
    Asel Doolotkeldieva

    On July 23, 2009, Kurmanbek Bakiev was re-elected for a second term with an overwhelming 76.12 per cent of the vote, leaving the opposition leader Almazbek Atambaev (8.41%) and the other four candidates, Temir Sariev (6.74 %), Toktaim Umetalieva (1.14%), Nurlan Motuev (0.93%), and Jenishbek Nazaraliev (0.83%), trailing far behind. At first glance, it would seem that the election results confirmed Kurmanbek Bakiev’s greater popularity (...)
     
  • Stabilization of Afghanistan: U.S./NATO Regional Strategy and the Role of SCO
    Simbal Khan

    In March 2009, President Obama presented the draft of a new U.S. policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, which aimed to address the security slide in Afghanistan with a spate of new strategies. One aspect of this new thinking was to address the increasing instability by addressing the regional dynamics and engaging the main regional actors. (...)
     
  • Reassessing the SCO's Internal Difficulties: A Chinese Point of View
    Yang Shu

    The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is composed of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. They possess a great amount of resources, and there is a lot of room to enhance multilateral economic and social cooperation under the SCO framework. However, integration among the SCO members remains weak. They have very diverse levels of economic development (...)
     
  • Iran and India's Cooperation toward Central Asia
    Mahmoud Balooch

    Iran, located by the Persian Gulf, Oman Sea, and Central Asia, is in the center of a perpetual “hot spot” in world affairs. It is situated at the eastern end of the oil-rich Persian Gulf and a possible export route for the natural resources of Central Asia. Iran’s geostrategic position allows it to play an important role in connecting India to Central Asia militarily and strategically. India sees Central Asia and Iran, situated at the crossroads of overland trading routes (...)
     
  • Revisiting Female Suicide in Muslim Tajikistan: Religious, Cultural, and Public Health Perspectives
    Alisher Latypov

    This article explores religious, cultural, and public health dimensions of female suicide in post-Soviet Muslim Tajikistan by contextualizing the findings from interviews with Tajik women and staff of the Dushanbe-based Burn Center, Toxicology Center, Emergency Department and Surgery Center within broader historical material, archival sources, religious texts, cultural studies, and scholarly research of suicide and self-immolation (...)
     
  • Perspectives on the SCO: Images and Discourses
    Selbi Hanova

    This article looks at the image construction of the SCO in the West and its own self-image as well as the history of discourse construction on the organization. The study utilizes constructivist lenses in order to investigate the reasons for certain image creation and trends/patterns in the activities of the SCO that contribute to the appearance of varying discourse. Such analysis is aimed at presenting relevant insights for policy formulations (...)
     
  • The Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Russia's Strategic Goals in Central Asia
    Alexander Frost

    The Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have both proved to be key security-coordinating and training instruments in Central Asia. From Moscow’s point of view her security goals are superbly met through both. However, from her strategic standpoint the dual existence of these two organizations, the former Russian backed the latter a Chinese initiative, presents both benefits and major strategic drawbacks. This article examines how their dual existence affects Russia’s (...)
     
  • India's Approach to Central Asia: Strategic Intents and Geo-political Calculus
    Jagannath P. Panda

    There is a widely held assumption that India’s growing military and security contacts in Central Asia in the last few years have made it a promising player in the region’s politics. But has India already emerged as a major player in Central Asia or is it in the process of becoming one? To what extent does the Great Game lens capture the real dynamics of India’s influence in Central Asia? (...)
     
  • The Dynamics of Bilateral Relations in the South Caucasus: Iran and its Northern Neighbors
    Farhad Atai

    The Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys close and friendly relations with the small Christian Republic of Armenia, rather than with the larger and seemingly more important Shi’ite Republic of Azerbaijan. While Iran’s close relations with Yerevan have a great deal to do with Armenia’s geographic and economic isolation, the Islamic Republic’s distant relations with Azerbaijan are a result of mutual suspicion and mistrust. Historically, Russia’s special relationship with Iran (...)

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 7, No. 2, May/June 2009 (Full Report):

  • Editors' Note
    Nicklas Norling

    Among the many significant developments in the wider Central Asian region (incl. Afghanistan) in the past half year, there are two parallel forces at play which promise to have profound implications for regional stability. Most important is perhaps the inclusion of Afghanistan as a central component in the U.S.-Russia “reset”. Both countries have also stepped up their activities in Afghanistan. While the U.S. is sending an additional 50.000 troops to the country, Russia has boosted humanitarian aid, political contacts, and investments in Afghanistan (...)
     
  • Why Does China Have No Business in Central Asia?
    Martin C. Spechler

    Although China is very active in trying to secure energy and some other raw materials from Central Asia, there is no significant organized private business activity in any of the five post-Soviet countries there. This reflects both a lack of commercially attractive articles for exchange and the domination of state trading on both sides of the border. "Staple globalism" in Central Asia does not look to Asia; China is not yet developing foreign business capabilities (...)
     
  • The Militarization of the Caspian Sea: "Great Games" and "Small Games" Over the Caspian Fleets
    Marlène Laruelle and Sébastien Peyrouse

    The militarization of the Caspian sea has considerably increased in the last few years since the post-Soviet states decided to establish their own military naval infrastructure. In a few years from now, new national military fleets, in particular those of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, will position themselves on the regional chessboard. This militarization is supposed to respond to several objectives: the possible perpetration of terrorist attacks on oil rigs and tankers; the protection of commercial ships crossing the sea; the struggle against poaching sturgeon; and the management of emergency climatic situations (...)
     
  • When the Bear Confronts the Crescent: Russia and the Jihadist Issue
    Didier Chaudet

    Central Eurasia has been an important battlefield for jihadists (i.e. violent Islamists) during the last thirty years. The Russian approach to this challenge is of great importance for the stability of the whole area. Indeed, Russia is historically as much a “Muslim” state as a Great Power with a strong influence on its Muslim-populated neighbors. Political and diplomatic choices made in Moscow have a direct impact on the evolution of the fight against violent political Islam in Central Eurasia. It seems that within its borders as well as in the whole area, the Kremlin does not fully comprehend the jihadist issues it confronts (...)
     
  • Restoring India's Silk Route Links with South and Central Asia across Kashmir: Challenges and Opportunities
    Mushtaq A. Kaw

    The Indian sub-continent was historically linked to Central Asia through two major overland corridors, one across Kabul, Afghanistan, in the South and another through Kashmir in the North. The trans-Kashmir corridor, with diverse sub-corridors, was symbolic of relative peace, prosperity, cross-cultural and ideological fertilization and human security until late 1940s. Unfortunately, it ruptured in 1947 with the division of the Indian sub-continent into India and Pakistan, and was further affected by the Indo-Chinese and Indo-Pakistan wars in the 1960s and 1970s. India’s overland connections with her northern neighborhood came to a standstill to the detriment of its diverse socio-cultural and politico-economic interests (...)
     
  • Organized Crime in Central Asia: A Threat Assessment
    Saltanat Berdikeeva

    The threat of organized crime in Central Asia emerged most clearly in Kyrgyzstan in the wake of the 2005 power change. Despite its surfacing from the shadow, organized crime in Kyrgyzstan has existed before 2005, while much of its context and many of its elements are replicated in the criminal underworld of its neighboring countries, albeit to differing degrees. A confluence of negative factors, such as autocracy, “institutionalized” crime, widespread corruption, deteriorating quality of life, inadequate law enforcement capabilities, and a lack of the rule of law, has created fertile grounds for the growth of organized crime in Central Asia (...)

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 7, No. 1, February 2009:Central Asian Perceptions of China (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 6, No. 4, November/December 2008 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 6, No. 3, August 2008 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 6, No. 2, May 2008 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 6, No. 1, February 2008 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 5, No. 4, November 2007 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 5, No. 3, August 2007 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 5, No. 2, May 2007 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 5, No. 1: Military Institutions, February 2007 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 4, No. 4, November 2006 (Full Report):

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Volume 4, No. 3, August 2006 (Full Report)

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly: Terrorism, Volume 4, No. 2, May 2006 (Full Report)

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly: Narcotics, Volume 4, No. 1, February 2006 (Full Report)

 

The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly: Energy and Security, Volume 3, No. 3, November 2005 (Full Report):

 
 

Source: Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program