欧亚大陆的新篇章 - 2023-07-11
Building a China-Central Asia community with a shared future can help foster a friendly environment among member countries
The Eurasian continent has long been the center of international politics, with direct impacts on global development and stability. Central Asia, located in the heartland of Eurasia and at the intersection of multiple civilizations, is rich in resources and holds significant strategic importance.
In the wake of the Cold War, the five newly independent Central Asian countries have gained importance on the international stage. Striving to achieve balance among great powers, they have been actively engaging in friendly cooperation with countries around the world.
As close neighbors, China and the Central Asian countries have steadily advanced cooperation over the past 30 years of diplomatic relations and worked together to safeguard regional peace and stability. Through multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the "China plus Central Asia" mechanism, strategic cooperation between the two sides has made special contributions and played an important role in promoting the benign development of the regional order.
In the early 1990s, with the Cold War and the bipolar world order coming to an end, multi-polarization became the global trend. An array of newly independent countries, including the five Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — emerged as new regional players.
The geopolitical landscape of the Eurasian region also underwent significant changes. On the one hand, a more diverse international structure provided a broader space for countries to make diplomatic choices in terms of policy priorities and partners for cooperation. On the other hand, as the unstable security situation posed challenges to the construction of nation-states and regional peace, countries with fragile defense systems and capabilities sought external protection.
In this unique context, some major powers, driven by various strategic considerations, put forward a series of new regional cooperation initiatives in an attempt to involve regional states, but all of those attempts have failed due to the difficulties in comprehensively addressing security and economic governance issues within a unified regional framework.
Therefore, regional governance has been challenged by issues, including escalating geopolitical rivalries among major powers, declining coordination of regional multilateral mechanisms, and frequent large-scale political crises and upheavals that disrupt the regional order.
As a multipolar world is taking shape, the Eurasian region is also shifting from a coerced order dominated by major powers to a cooperative order that seeks equal treatment among countries. This irreversible transformation has not only brought profound changes to the regional governance system, but also pushed the formation and development of new models of regional cooperation.
It is all too clear that multilateral cooperation in the Eurasian region is dominated by major powers. When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, it did not intend to give up its presence in the region. Instead, it redesigned its strategy. It has been encouraging "de-Russification" in Eurasian countries, wooing Central Asian countries, and attempting to contain China and Russia through the European Union and NATO.
At the same time, India, Japan, Turkiye, Iran and even Poland are actively eying partial penetration in the Eurasian region, hoping to strengthen their influence through favorable multilateral or bilateral mechanisms.
Amid the Ukraine crisis, Russia's confrontation with the US and the West in the Eurasian region has escalated. The hotspot is now in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region, and is likely to extend to Central Asia.
Regional governance is an integral part of global governance. The collapse of the old security system in the Eurasian region has brought challenges and threats to regional cooperation.
Having realized that collectively they can better protect their interests, Central Asian countries have tried to integrate, establishing a unified economic space that developed into the Central Asian Cooperation Organization and later became part of the Eurasian Economic Union.
In response to continuous pressure from the US and the West, Russia has strengthened the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization to create stable strategic support among the post-Soviet states. However, with the Ukraine crisis and the confrontation between Russia and the West, Eurasian countries have become politically divided, even though most claim to remain neutral.
In the face of regional disorder and great power confrontations, China and the Central Asian countries jointly advocate cooperation for security and development and achieving common prosperity through pragmatic multilateral cooperation.
The SCO and the "China plus Central Asia" mechanism have been innovative about how member states cooperate. They adjust goals according to realities. They are committed to being open and not targeting third parties. In order to promote cooperation in various fields, they advocate the establishment of a partnership network and keeping close ties with important international organizations and multilateral mechanisms. Member states are able to communicate fully on regional issues, support each other on the international stage, and engage in increasingly diverse cooperation. Therefore, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the "China plus Central Asia" mechanism have what it takes to be deeply involved in improving the regional governance system.
Regional governance is more comprehensive than generic multilateral cooperation. It not only emphasizes cooperation at political and security levels, but also focuses on long-term stability and common development. It requires the participation of governments and various sectors of society to form an "all-around" cooperation model.
With close social ties between China and Central Asian countries, cooperation between the two sides is endowed with geographical and institutional advantages. To improve the regional governance system, multilateral mechanisms need to coordinate, coexist in harmony, and work closely together.
Connected geographically, China and the Central Asian countries also boast high levels of political, economic, security and cultural cooperation, which balances the interests and demands of all parties.
This multilateral cooperation carried out in the Eurasian heartland has positive significance for improving the governance system of the entire region. It not only helps restore and rebuild a reasonable order, but also creates a relatively stable cooperative environment based on rules and institutions acceptable to all.
To establish a cooperative order in the Eurasian region, it is first necessary to enhance mutual trust among countries and respect institutional and cultural differences.
Second, stable relations of interdependence and common development need to be formed. The level of cooperation also needs to be elevated through strategic bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
Third, rules and institutional frameworks need to be confirmed to establish effective mechanisms that promote multilateral cooperation.
Building a China-Central Asia community with a shared future at the regional and bilateral levels can help foster a friendly environment among member countries. It can facilitate the establishment of multilateral cooperation mechanisms and a network of partnerships in priority areas. It is expected to lead to the building of a new type of international relations in the Eurasian region based on mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation.
The author is Sun Zhuangzhi, the director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern Europe and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Source: China Daily
