Author: Soboleva, Elena

Annotation: China’s increased presence in Central Asia has become the popular subject of scientific inquiry. However, in most of such research China is treated as a unitary actor and its presence in Central Asia is perceived to be a rationally-calculated strategy and to reflect a combination of national interests. The Chinese elites also support this discourse and present China as a centralized Westphalian state and Chinese engagement in Central Asia as guided by coherent centrally-controlled Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, decentralization, fragmentation and internationalization of Chinese state have had a significant impact on its foreign policy, which actually consists of activities of different foreign policy actors with different interests and motivations. This paper aims to explore how different decentralized forces participate in Chinese foreign policy-making and to discuss implications for China’s Central Asia policy.

Keywords: China’s foreign policy, Central Asia, foreign policy actors, Belt and Road Initiative, decentralization, China’s state-owned enterprises, China’s state-owned banks

Pages in journal: 536 - 543