Xinjiang and China's Rise in Central Asia - A History

Description

The recent conflict between indigenous Uyghurs and Han Chinese demonstrates that Xinjiang is a major trouble spot for China, with Uyghur demands for increased autonomy, and where Beijing s policy is to more firmly integrate the province within China. This book provides an account of how China s evolving integrationist policies in Xinjiang have influenced its foreign policy in Central Asia since the establishment of the People s Republic in 1949, and how the policy of integration is related to China s concern for security and its pursuit of increased power and influence in Central Asia. The book traces the development of Xinjiang - from the collapse of the Qing empire in the early twentieth century to the present “ and argues that there is a largely complementary relationship between China s Xinjiang, Central Asia and grand strategy-derived interests. This pattern of interests informs and shapes China s diplomacy in Central Asia and its approach to the governance of Xinjiang. Michael E. Clarke shows how China s concerns and policies, although pursued with vigour in recent decades, are of long-standing, and how domestic problems and policies in Xinjiang have for a long time been closely bound up with wider international relations issues. (Source: Google Books API)