Yavuz Celik from China!

 

I am Yavuz Celik, a graduate student of Istanbul University, Department of History. In September of 2016, I moved to China, where my postgraduate studies started with the support of the Turkish Ministry of National Education's scholarship (YLSY). I hold a master’s degree from Nankai University’s International Affairs and Public Policy program. I then further pursued a doctoral project to specialize in the area. I have started my PhD at Shanghai University in August of 2018 under Professor Gaston
Antonio Zapata Velasco's direction, in the field of Global Studies at the Shanghai University. My PhD thesis title is "China's Growing Economic Influence in Border Countries of Central Asia since 1991: The Case of Kazakhstan''. 

In my studies, I focus on; Chinese Foreign Policy, the Sino-Central Asian relationship, Growing China's economic influence on the Central Asian states, China-Kazakhstan bilateral Relationship.

 

My PhD research is designed to provide answers to two questions; what factors most affect China's growing economic influence in Central Asia, and the case of Kazakhstan?  And: why does China's economic influence grow in Central Asia despite significant challenges? To answer these questions, I am searching for some positive factors and some challenges. On the one hand, positive factors concerning China's growing influence in Central Asia are Multilateralism, Cooperation (Investments), Interdependence. On the other hand, challenges consist of Anti-Chinese sentiment, debt liability, and external actors' influence in Central Asian countries. These challenges require feasible solutions, and Beijing is trying to overcome these challenges by focusing on the problems, increasing the amount of the investments and explain China’s aims that desire to establish a win-win relationship. Considering these assumptions, my study's main objective is that positive factors outweighed this balance contribute to China’s growing influence in Central Asia. To narrow the research’s scope, I chose Kazakhstan as a case study within the Central Asian states because it has a comparably well-developed economy, has a borderline with China, and significant anti-Chinese sentiment as a challenging factor.

 

I have been interested in Chinese studies since my bachelor's degree; during my university years, I studied China's news in the Turkish press between 1967 and 1979, focusing on the newspapers “Cumhureiyet”, and “Tercüman” and  it gave me some information about that period. China was taking my attention due to its ancient history, culture, and its strong economic potential. China has become one of the most popular study abroad destinations for international students thanks to its long history, exciting culture, economic conditions.  I have never regretted the decision to go to China for my postgraduate education. Of course, it has not always been easy being a country that is significantly different in culture and far away from home. Despite some challenges, the pleasure of overcoming all the problems day by day, the desire to learn more about China, and understanding the underlying reasons behind how China became successful in the international area, motivate me to keep learning more about China. I still remember how I was excited when I learned that I got the opportunity to do my master and PhD in China. I was very determined to understand the growing Chinese influence all over the world. 

 

I have greatly enjoyed the experiences working within the field of China's foreign policy dynamics to Central Asia and growing economic influence in the region, particularly on Kazakhstan, and I have developed a wide range of different points research skills, including to see from different perspectives such as view from the regions states as well as China’s perspective. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Chinese economic influence in Central Asia has increased. Since Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) were weak economically and somehow unstable politically, China has put more economic influence in the region. Today, their economic conditions have improved, and Chinese investments contribute to this; trade volumes between China and the five regional states had roared since the 1990s when they fluctuated between $ 350 million and $ 750 million annually. In 2016, trade volumes reached $ 30 billion. Central Asian republics are approaching a cornerstone for their history in which their economies and - somehow their policies - are shaped more towards Chinese influence rather than Russia's, considering that China's economic plans and infrastructure activities particularly under the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) framework and other multilateral institutions have bolstered this scenario. The BRI conjures historical memories of the Silk Road, based on trade, the exchange between countries in the past. At present, the BRI is designed to further China’s economic presence in some of the regions and Central Asia is one of those.

 

China's rise in economic growth was initiated by Deng Xiaoping's open-door policy in the 1970s. The need to understand China's growing economic influence initial research interest for my research the reasons behind the success. So far, according to the Chinese perspective of Central Asia, the more infrastructure they fund, the more economic development will be in the Central Asian region. Therefore, China has significantly used institutions such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to solve border problems and establish more cooperation; Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIBB), which is a multilateral development bank, was established to fund the region's states. The BRI (credits and investment) is contributing to the region's political stability. China's Belt & Road Initiative, which Xi Jinping introduced in 2013, is likely to consolidate China's economic influence further. Furthermore, Chinese loans have played a significant role in Kazakhstan's economic recovery, and it is one of the elements that contribute to growing Chinese economic influence in the country. Furthermore, I intensely believe that China will assume a stronger role in world affairs. I am very interested in continuing my studies to prove my desire to find more information about growing Chinese influence in the international arena. In history, it was once said that: 条条大路通罗马 (Tiáo tiáo dàlù tōng luómǎ) “all roads lead to Rome”, however in contemporary times it can be said, 条条大路通中国(Tiáo tiáo dàlù tōng zhōngguó) “all roads lead to China'', this perfectly captures the basis of the BRI, as China aims to construct and lead this $4 trillion project.