China’s Energy Silk Road To The Caspian Region And Its Geopolitical Implications

As China diversifies its energy strategy towards the historic Silk Road, many wonderabout the geopolitical implications of this move.This paper analyses motives behind country’s expansion in the Caspian region, focusingon energy security as an integrating factor of a complex strategy. It proves that the resourcerich area is also of great political, security and economic importance to Beijing.China’s well-timed energy quest combined with economic influence and financialinvolvement in the Caspian states, help to establish win-win cooperation. Non-interventionprinciple and relative neutrality of Beijing’s foreign policy, as well as similar view onregional security issues, allow establishing integration mechanisms and bolstering China’sgeopolitical influence in the region.The research includes perspective on major powers competition in Central Asia in contextof Chinese accomplishments. As Russia, the US, EU, India and Iran struggle forsupremacy in this focal point of global geopolitics, Beijing’s dominance seems hard totopple.Findings prove that China has been effectively implementing its geopolitical strategyobjectives in the Caspian and became successful player in regional energy game.