ABSTRACT
Although most analyses of Central Asia focus on Russian and American policies, they err by overlooking China's growing stake in Central Asia and its enhanced capabilities to pursue its objectives there. China looks to Central Asia for internal security against Islamic and Uighur terrorism, especially in Xinjiang, energy access, economic opportunities, and defense against foreign threats. China also believes that Central Asia is a region in which it can and must display its rising economic and military capabilities. China's continuing multipolar view of the world, and desire that the system of global international relations should be organized accordingly, go together with recognition of its enhanced power and status in world affairs. China believes that it should represent one of those poles and not be subsumed in a wholly US-dominated regional or global order. 1
