Chińska strategia powrotu do Azji Centralnej - jedwabny szlak XXI wieku

With the collapse of Soviet Union and the establishment of five new states in Central Asia Chinese foreign policy faced the challenge of creating solid relations with this region. Common interest in fighting ethnic and religious separatism, trade in energetic resources and development of other branches of economy helped to create the basis for political cooperation. One of the biggest obstacles in development a full-scale economic exchange was the lack of sufficient transport infrastructure across the former Chinese-Soviet border. The history of industrialization of Central Asia enforced by the Russian and the tense relations between communist China and Russia resulted in building roads, railways and pipelines from Central Asia to the north only. The Chinese's will, to change this state is an important element of the plan to revitalize Western China's weak economy and to create land transport corridors from China to Europe, Middle East and ports of Indian Ocean. In this paper the process of filling transport gap between China and Central Asia and its political conditions will be examined.