China's Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative: Network and Influence Formation in Central Asia

This article demonstrates that, rather than constituting a new model for Central Asian international relations, the SREB's real strategic value for China is as an organizational concept and as an influence multiplier. In recasting its Central Asian bilateral relations as part of the SREB engagement model, Beijing has overlaid a strategic-level concept to its otherwise disparate patterns of engagement. In so doing, the Xi administration has consolidated its multiple lines of efforts and the diverse Chinese-based actorsboth state and privateinto a grand narrative: one that serves the strategic purpose of integration. The Xi administration has used (and is using) this integration to expand its influence throughout the Central Asian region, both through its bilateral relations and through a SREB-resulting network of Central Asian states. In particular, one sees regular instances within China's SREB engagement where the Xi administration uses the initiative to reconstitute regional states' development priorities, interests and relations in ways that benefit China's overall strategic interests.