Valdai Club

All the major powers are active in Central Asia, including China, Russia, the United States, Europe, India and Japan. This would not be a problem for the Central Asian countries if the major powers were on good terms, but the reality is that the relationship between the major powers in Central Asia is complicated, writes Zhao Huasheng.

Since internal problems present the greatest risk, the main way to maintain security and stability in Central Asia should be the elimination of internal problems, even if the barrier to external dangers should be built first and foremost at home. In fact, the Central Asian countries have become increasingly aware of it, and the reforms underway in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are aimed at this end, writes Zhao Huasheng.

After 30 years of development, against the backdrop of tremendous changes in world politics and economics, the Central Asian countries have a strong desire to embrace innovation, change, development and modernisation, writes Valdai Club expert Zhao Huasheng.

The SCO is the main experimental and practical area for China’s concepts of a new international order, and it is also a model for it. The main concepts proposed by China are reflected in the practice of the SCO, and in a certain sense, it can be said that it is the prototype for the new international order envisioned by China, writes Valdai Club expert Zhao Huasheng.

Moscow’s greatest success in the near abroad will be the transformation of the region into a real strategic resource, and its biggest failure will be its transformation into a strategic burden for Russia, writes Valdai Club expert Zhao Huasheng.

Political thinking and economic logics are both serve as important driving forces for Eurasian integration, but sometimes they contradict each other, which restricts the Eurasian integration from going forward quickly. This is also one of the important reasons why it is difficult for the Eurasian integration to achieve a major breakthrough, writes Zhao Huasheng, Professor at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University

As a strategic conception, the Indo-Pacific strategy is perceived with certain difference by its major participants, including the U.S., India, Japan, Australia and ASEAN states. That is to say, under the common term of Indo-Pacific strategy, these states see it differently; their priorities and goals are not quite the same; and their attitudes and approaches are differentiated.

Trade and economic issues will be the focus of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to China, scheduled to take place on November 5-7. It’s quite often heard that economic relations are the weak part of the China-Russian relations, contrasting their excellent political relations. I agree with it. Comparing with the quickly developing political relations, economic cooperation and trade look less impressive.

The BRICS concept is constantly enriched and improved, and now it is generally clear in which direction to move: the BRICS+ project, created on the basis of BRICS, will expand the integration platform, forming a new economic community.