US Perspectives on China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia and the South Caucasus
| Author | S. Frederick Starr |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881719851916 |
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
US Perspectives on
China’s Belt and Road
Initiative in Central Asia
and the South Caucasus
S. Frederick Starr1
Abstract
To date, the US response to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Central
Asia and the Caucasus has been calm, if not tacitly supportive. Two main reasons
for this are: (a) the reopening of age-old east–west trade corridors as one of the
most important legacies of the collapse of the USSR and (b) it views the engage-
ment of both China and Europe in east–west trade across Central Asia as fur-
thering the Central Asians’ own ability to achieve balanced and positive relations
between all the major powers, thereby constraining hegemonic aspirations from
any quarter. Further, the United States supports the emergence of Central Asia
as a defined world region akin to ASEAN or the Nordic Council and believes
that reforms under way in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in the region serve that
end as well as increase east–west and west–east trade across the region. Finally,
the United States realizes that the ultimate judgement on the viability of BRI in
Central Asia and the Caucasus will be that of the market and not geopolitics.
Keywords
Silk Road, Belt and Road, China, United States, Central Asia, connectivity, South
Caucasus
Introduction
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one of the most ambitious development
projects ever undertaken, comparable only to the post-World War II Marshall Plan
and China’s own Three Gorges Dam project. Significantly, China deftly presented
Article
1 Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, Washington, DC, USA.
Corresponding author:
S. Frederick Starr, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, 509 C St NE,
Washington, DC 20002, USA.
E-mail: starr@afpc.org
International Studies
56(2–3) 79–91, 2019
2019 Jawaharlal Nehru University
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/0020881719851916
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