ECONOMIC AND TRADE COOPERATION BETWEEN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA AND THE REPUBLIC OF TURKMENISTAN IN 1992-2010

After the collapse of the Soviet Union Turkmenistan was the only country within the new newly established "Central Asia" region that have accomplished equidistance from major centres of power in its economic policy and diplomacy. But the situation changed dramatically in 2006 after the death of President S. Niyazov (Turkmenbashi). From the beginning of the new President G. Berdymukhammedov's rule, Turkmenistan became more and more clearly involved in the main regional activities. But it is still not a part of such regional structures as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) or the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), so it has fewer chances to use these organisations' assistance. Leading trade partners of Turkmenistan are Turkey, Iran, Russia, Western countries. But one of the regional "great powers" - People's Republic of China (PRC) - also planned to support their industries located mostly in the East and South areas by Turkmen gas. After the construction of the gas pipeline through the territory of three Central Asian States (Eastern Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) with Chinese assistance (known also as The Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline or Turkmenistan-China Gas Pipeline), Turkmenistan will find a way not to rely on the Russian pipeline system solely. At the meeting with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in Ashgabat held on December 13, 2009, the Chinese President Hu Jintao said "the Chinese and Turkmen economies are highly complementary to each other, and bilateral cooperation of mutual benefit in all dimensions and various fields accords with the needs of economic development of both countries". Also they agreed to set up some bilateral projects and investment in the construction, transportation, and military spheres. Notwithstanding the rapid growth of bilateral trade in recent years, China is still at the bottom of the Turkmenistan trade partners list. The newly managed transregional gas pipeline project could help both parties to find the new cooperation fields and also to boost the trade relations. But the core Chinese interest is in gas and oil reserves. After the construction of the second stage of the pipeline China plans to increase gas consumption and to "freeze" similar gas and oil reserves extraction in Xinjiang. So the main purpose of the modern Chinese economic policy in Turkmenistan is to enlarge the energy cooperation and to maintain and enlarge the presence in the Turmen market.