The geopolitics of Central Asian energy

This chapter assesses the rising geostrategic and geoeconomic importance of Central Asian oil and natural gas for China and the United States – the most transparent source of Sino-American conflict in this region. The initial rationale for Chinese engagement in Central Asia, despite the emergence of China as a net oil-importing nation in 1993, was not driven by the search for an alternative and secure source of oil and natural gas.¹ Rather, Chinese policy reflected a set of domestic and foreign policy concerns, particularly the desire to address unresolved border disputes with its many neighbours, to dampen ethnic unrest in the