The Roots of The Great Game in Central Asia
The Anglo-Russian contest for Central Asian hegemony was first called “The Great Game” by R. Kipling, who popularised the phrase in the late 19th century. After the war in Afghanistan, various international scholars have realised that the age-old “Great Game” is entering a new and more hazardous phase with great powers vying for dominance in Central Asian region. According to international experts, China, Russia, and the United States will each try to bend their energy advantage to strategic objectives over time and in response to market movements. Additional strategic importance is attached to the area’s oil and gas reserves; access to them is critical to all parties engaged, even those from outside of the region. Thus, the aim of the essay is to analyse the importance of Central Asia as an important region in the broader Indo-Pacific.
A front-row seat to the development and collapse of empires has been provided over the last three decades in Central Asia. After 2001, Central Asia became a battleground for the United States’ war on terror, with Central Asians witnessing first-hand the limitations of American strength in the ultimately unsuccessful occupation of Afghanistan. These centuries of international rivalry which have been waged in Central Asia, owing to its strategic location on the Silk Road is important even today. In contemporary time Russia, China, and the United States and the European Union seem to be engaged in a “New Great Game” for regional hegemony today. According to study by Rosenberg et al suggested that because of the growing instability and ongoing conflict in the Middle East the flow of oil and natural resources are greatly hampered. These prompted the great power to look for the Central Asian region which has abundant natural resources and significant amount of oil reservoirs especially in Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan. Another underlying interest of the major power of the region is its geo-strategic significance. The famous Heartland theory by Halford Mackinder already emphasises the significance of the Central Asian region as of great geo-political significance because of its high seas and land connection. Central Asia is strategically located in the core of Eurasia and Asia. In this way, it serves as a link between eastern and western nations, linking Asia and Europe together. Thus, for major countries, Central Asian republics have emerged as an increasingly important battleground in this struggle for global dominance.
Central Asia is not only a geopolitical and geoeconomically distinct region, but also a geo cultural one. Oil, gas, and hydropower make up the majority of the country’s natural resource base, which helps to offset the country’s geographical isolation. For instance, the mining and export of Kazakstan’s huge array of natural resources, including uranium and crude oil, has ultimately led to the country’s macroeconomic development. Kazakhstan’s GDP peaked in 2008 at $135 billion, up from under $20 billion in 1992, owing to the country’s vast oil reserves. With a projected oil and gas export market share of 10% by 2015, Kazakhstan is poised to overtake Russia as the greatest former Soviet republic oil production. Furthermore, the energy reserves in the Caspian region are some of the world’s greatest and most valuable. Oil reserves range from 50 to 110 billion barrels, while natural gas reserves range from 170 to 463 trillion cubic feet . This newly discovered oil and gas sparked a fierce battle among the world’s great powers to gain strategic influence over the Central Asian governments and gain control of these energy resources. Russia, the immediate neighbour of the Central Asian states, are vying for power in the region to have control in the resources of the region. According to Peter Rutherland Russia sees the region falling in their own backyard and see other power interest in the region antithetical to their energy resources concern. The US policy in the region is to ensure that the West has “unrestricted market access” to energy resources from the area. For the most part, the United States intends to keep its control over Central Asian energy supplies by avoiding both Iran and the Russian Federation, which would give it an advantage over its rivals in the region. But the arrival of another great power that is China has made the Central Asian region a new great power game. With a primary geoeconomics strategy, China has joined this new regional arena to promote commerce, secure energy sources, and construct cross-border infrastructure. Even while trade routes played a role in the first “Great Game,” China’s significant influence in influencing regional and bilateral commercial connections throughout Central Asia has established the groundwork for a new “Great Game.” In Central Asia, China has overtaken Russia as the region’s dominant commercial partner, having become a significant partner or at the very least one of the region’s important trading partners. The BRI was launched in Kazakhstan in 2013 as China’s geoeconomic plan to expand and strengthen overland trade and infrastructure linkages between Central Asia and the rest of Eurasia and Europe.
Strategic Significance of Central Asia’s Natural Resources
Central Asia is strategically located in the core of Eurasia and Asia. In this way, it serves as a link between eastern and western nations, linking Asia and Europe together. The Central Asian republics have long been a hub for commerce, rivalry, and warfare because of their strategic location. For global power politics, Central Asia remains relevant in the post-Cold War period via new ideas and techniques. In Central Asia, gas resources are of special relevance to Global Powers. The region’s location may also allow it to serve as a commerce route between Asia and Europe or the Middle East in the future.
Geo-strategic implications of the Caspian region for the United States include more than just energy security; they also have implications for the country’s long-term grand strategy in the twenty-first century. For example, the United States is interested in securing trade links between Asia and Europe, as well as beyond, by gaining political control over regional energy resources, particularly Kazakh oil. According to Blank United States also aim to keep the region out of the hands of terrorism and the rise of a regional hegemon like Russia or China. For Russia geopolitical interests in the area represent the country’s unique place in region international affairs. In Russia’s initial aim in the area, the eradication of terrorism, Russia and the United States have a common interest. Russia’s concern for state stability is tied directly to the security of its own borders since it is a neighbouring nation with such a large geographical area. In China’s view, Central Asia is a key component of the Belt and Road Initiative’s “Silk Road Economic Belt,” which connects China to the rest of the world (BRI). China’s BRI places Central Asia at the centre of the long-distance trade, investment, and infrastructure development loops that connect Asia and the rest of the world. Moreover, China aims to dominate the region as major oil and gas pipeline in the region are connected to Central Asian countries.
Conclusion
As energy prices increases and producers compete more fiercely, the consequences for the great game will shape in the Central Asia. In other parts of the Indo-Pacific there are co-operation being seen between China and Russia against the United States global order. But in the Central Asian region Chinese believe that its own national interest is directly linked to it hence no compromise is possible in the region. It is what makes the rivalry of the three great powers very intriguing. As a result, every major player in this strategic battle aims to dissuade and strengthen their rivals in order to secure the Central Asian strategic location as well as the oil and gas resources in the region. In times of war and peace, as well as in changing geopolitical scenarios throughout the globe, these conflicting interests might heighten the struggle between major countries, enhancing the allure of Central Asia’s territory.
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