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CONTEMPORARY EURASIA IX ( 1 )
YEVA HARUTYUNYAN
JAPAN ’ S POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC STRATEGY IN CENTRAL ASIA
Abstract : This paper examines political and economic strategy of Japan in Central Asia and tries to reveal Japan ’ s main interests in the region . Strategic geography and rich natural resources of Central Asian states are attracting Great Powers and neighboring regional states to increase their influence in this region . Though Japan is not engaged in “ new great game ” politics , it has its political and economic strategy towards the region . For realizing it , Japan is conducting bilateral and multilateral relationships with the states of the region by using Official Development Assistance ( ODA ) program as a tool . Being interested in political stability and security of this region , Japan in its political and economic activities assists the states of Central Asia to overcome economic difficulties and isolation as well as promotes the formation of political union for further integration of Central Asian region .
Keywords : Japan , Central Asia , oil and gas pipelines , peaceful nuclear energy , Silk Road ( or Eurasian ) Diplomacy .
Introduction
With the collapse of Soviet Union , the Cold War came to an end . As a result , old world order was replaced by a new one . The rise of multiplayer world order in place of a bipolar world dominated by the USA and the USSR was the reality of the new global order . These new major centers of power including Japan , European Union , China , ASEAN and Russia came to international flora with growing economic capabilities . 1 Due to the growth of energy demands of Asian states such as China , India , Japan and South Korea the architecture of global oil , and
Central Asia , by its most common definition , is a region consisting of five “ Stan ” that were formerly Soviet republics : Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan . See “ Central Asia : Core and Periphery ,” Geohistory , October 29 , 2017 , https :// geohistory . today / central-asia / ( accessed August 11 , 2020 ).
1
Vatsala Shukla , India ' s Foreign Policy in the New Millennium : The Role of Power ( New Delhi : Atlantic Publishers & Dist : 2005 ), 8 .
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