China: The Dragon in Central Asia – PART 1: The hunt for friends, and oil
Despite its geographic proximity, China for the past century played only a marginal role in Central Asia. Economically, politically and culturally, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were firmly in Russia’s orbit. But independence in 1991 brought changes, among them the opening of the “Bamboo Curtain” to the East.
November 22, 2004