The purpose of this paper is to present a view on China's energy search towards Central Asia and the strategy the country adopts in order to enhance its political and economic reach in the region.
The paper examines the strategy of China in outmanoeuvring other major energy competitors in the Central Asian region. The analysis also looks at China's strategic leverage in the region over other extra regional powers which are increasingly finding it difficult to overcome the Chinese influence over the energy rich Central Asian countries.
China's presence in the Central Asian region would continue to be a major concern for other extra regional powers that seek to enter into the region's energy sector. Though countries such as the USA, India, and Russia have undeniable importance to a great extent in the region, the years to come would evince China playing a leading role vis‐à‐vis its interaction with Central Asia.
Though the bandwidth of the political interactions and involvement of Russia and USA are significantly larger than that of China, the region's energy sector would be strategic determinant in shaping the Central Asian states' relations and interactions with the outside world. As the analysis used in this paper is primarily meant to examine China's energy search in Central Asia, issues related to other purely political and economic arena are not extensively discussed.
The paper is the original work of the author. The analysis provided in the paper is based on the facts and information on China's energy search in the Central Asian region. The paper provides analysis of the Chinese energy strategy in Central Asia.
