China is rapidly expanding its economic and strategic interests in Central Asia, with global strategic implications. As the United States refocuses its attention from Afghanistan to the Asia-Pacific, and NATO halts its eastward expansion, China is stepping up its “Marching Westwards” policy. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently toured through Central Asia, signing contracts worth tens of billions of dollars, and treating the former Soviet republics as if they were now in China’s sphere of influence. He opened an important energy pipeline that will feed Caspian gas from Kazakhstan across Asia into China’s coastal cities. It will traverse Turkmenistan, feeding into…
