CHINA, RUSSIA, AND THE U.S.:
THEIR INTERESTS, POSTURES, AND INTERRELATIONS IN CENTRAL ASIA

Zhao HUASHENG

---

Zhao Huasheng, Senior research fellow and director of the Department of Russian and Central Asian Studies at SIIS (Shanghai, People’s Republic of China)

---

U.S. Interests in Central Asia

They can be roughly divided into three aspects.

Counter-terrorism is the primary interest of the United States in Central Asia at present. The events of 9/11 in 2001 greatly changed the U.S.’s traditional security concept and its security strategy. The threat of international terrorism has become the U.S.’s most urgent security threat, and counter-terrorism is the U.S.’s central strategic concern. Central Asia is in a suitable geographic location for dealing a blow to international terrorism. Counter-terrorism is a long-term undertaking and Central Asia has not lost its geographical and political significance in the U.S.’s pursuit of international counter-terrorism.

Control of Caspian energy resources. Control over the world’s energy resources, including Caspian energy, was one of the U.S’s strategic goals even before 9/11. American companies have been taking an active part in energy exploitation in Central Asia during the past decade. The events of 9/11 highlighted once more for the United States the strategic importance of maintaining control over world energy resources. Central Asia and the Caspian, which have huge reserves of natural gas, are considered the world’s most likely candidate for future energy production. Gaining control over the energy resources of Central Asia and the Caspian is part of the U.S.’s general strategy for controlling the world’s energy resources.

Counter-terrorism is not the only objective of the U.S.’s presence in Central Asia. It has another goal—geopolitical. Central Asia is Russia’s traditional sphere of influence and…………….

---

Please fill subscription form to obtain full text of this jounal