Volume XXXIII – Number 2
Evan P. Coren
Abstract: The dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in the Russian Federation becoming the successor state to the Soviet Union, thus filling the role they had played in Chinese Foreign Policy throughout the Cold War. Despite this, the creation of new states such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan required China to formulate a new foreign policy addressing its relationship with states on its northwest border. This article argues that China needs to deal with the problems of trade relations, ethnic problems, Islamic challenges, refugee movements, border disputes, security threats, nuclear proliferation, and challenges to its own political system in the development of relations with its new Central Asian neighbors. These factors are important as China seeks to maintain social control within its own state and avoid the social problems such as ethnic separatism and social dissent that tore apart the Soviet Union. Furthermore, the landlocked geopolitical position of these new Central Asian states strongly encourages them to develop strong relations with China in order to have a contact other than Russia to the outside world.
Key Words: Russia, Soviet Union, China, Cold War, Foreign Policy, Central Asia
