COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF THE STRATEGY OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC AND THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN IN THE REVIVAL OF A NEW SILK ROAD

Abstract

The article presents a systematic analysis of the China’s and Kazakhstan’s policies towards reviving the Silk Road through the prism of the new initiatives adopted by the two countries recently. At first, the authors scrutinise the China’s «One Belt and One Road» initiative adopted by the China’s government in 2013. The authors consider that China has already committed 250 billion USD into the development of new factories, rail roads, pipelines, airports etc. along the road in countries in Africa, South-East Asia and Central Asia and is expected to spend 1 trillion USD onto these projects during the next 10 years. Following the depiction of China’s approach the author turns to the Kazakhstani’s policies aimed at reviving the ancient Silk Road trade. The authors claim that China and Kazakhstan have many commonalities in terms of strategies adopted toward this goal. To substantiate this point, the authors point to the strategy «Nurly Zhol» which was launched by the Kazakh government in response to China’s BRI initiative. Due to the Nurly Zhol policy – so the authors - the implementation of China’s BRI is expected to progress much faster and more effectively in Kazakhstan than in other Central Asian countries.
Taken together the article provides a solid analysis of the strategies adopted by the governments of China and Kazakhstan respectively. Overall, the article provides a more optimistic view of Chinese and Kazakh strategies towards the Silk Road, leaving the impression that the implementation of the strategy is set to have positive and lasting effect on countries’ economies. Although this impression might be correct in a short term perspective, a more nuanced and comprehensive assessment of the challenges associated with the implementation of the strategy in future, the role of international markets, as well as the complex geopolitical situation in wider Eurasia could have benefited the article.