Russia - Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies ...

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The New Silk Roads
reason, Russia, together with other SCO members, rejected China’s idea
of a regional “free trade zone”. This is the reason, too, that Central Asian
countries (except Kazakhstan) reject Chinese trade credits. Meanwhile,
China convinced Kazakhstan to form several free trade zones on their
common border. For now, these “windows” are not troublesome but it is
easy to predict their future. China can be expected to form such freetrade
zones also with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Russia still has one more potential source of strength, namely to establish
a SCO energy club. This would be equally beneficial to all participants,
including SCO non-member Turkmenistan, and would upgrade the role
of the energy exporters, i.e. Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan. This suggests that the prospects of China’s integration into
Eurasia, including Central Asia, are high, and the potential profitability
great and more promising than the integration of Russia and Central Asia
into some eastward-oriented “Chinese regimen.”
Trans-continental or trans-Asian cooperation involves many paradoxes,
among them Russia’s non-participation to date in such leading
international organizations as the powerful Eurasian network ASEM
(Asia-Europe meeting). ASEM was formed in 1996 and now includes
twenty-five European Union states and thirteen Asian states. Soon some
sixty percent of the world’s population will be involved in this Eurasian
entity. Russia should become a full member of ASEM by 2008, which
will strengthen its geopolitical voice and enhance the prospects for
reorganizing Eurasian trade and transport in a manner consistent with
Russia’s methods.
Russia and India
The proposed GCA partnership project is certainly inclusive in that it
involves the five former Soviet states of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and
the main neighbor states including Russia and Iran. Yet its main focus is
on Central Asia’s links to Asia. Will this foster Russia’s connection with
the southern states of Asia as well?