CHINA ȘI STATELE DIN ASIA CENTRALĂ. ÎNTRE PROVOCĂRILE MOȘTENIRII ISTORICE ȘI CELE RECENTE
CHINA AND THE CENTRAL ASIA STATES. BETWEEN THE HISTORICALLY INHERITED CHALLENGES AND THE RECENT ONES

Summary/Abstract: Contesting territorial claims between neighboring countries is one of the most sensitive issues in international relations and one of the issues that can easily escalate into violence and security concerns. That being said, there is no wonder that Beijing tried to solve these problems regarding neighbouring Central Asian countries as smoothly and as fast as possible. Even though this endeavour of claiming territories from neighbours might seem just like an exercise derived from Imperial Chinese consciousness and practices (and, to some extent, it is), there are more at stake behind these actions: external and internal security concerns, unresolved border issues dating back to the 19th century and regaining some of the dignity that the Chinese society perceives it had lost during the Century of Humiliation. But how were these territorial claims settled and how did they impact neighbouring societies in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstanand Tajikistan? On their own, they do not seem to have had a huge negative impact on public opinion in the Central Asian countries, the Chinese diplomacy was very delicate and careful about these issues and the fact that the Chinese settled in the end for much less than the disputed land certainly helped a lot. However, these territorial claims, combined with other sensitive issues like the ever increasing debt of these countries to China, dissatisfaction with their own internal political elites often deemed as corrupt, increasing land rental to China, some practices of Chinese companies operating in the Central Asian countries, as well as aggressive mining operations and concession contracts seem to have led to increasing concerns, increasing anti-imperial attitudes and a constant decrease in positive public opinion on China.

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