The end of Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union created new dynamics in international arena. The events of the new restructured world show us decline and rise of powers’ capabilities on the global and regional levels. Powers such as China and Russia started to reconsider their global and regional capabilities to define their position in international arena. The new sovereign states of Central Asian region have strengthened their capabilities with those powers who maneuver in the region in the fields of economy, politics and security. They all try to improve their interstate relations in the framework of mutual understanding, mutual trust, interaction and mutual profits. China, Russia and Central Asian Republics are pursuing the peace and stability as their strategic interests. Overall, the challenges of instability and contradictions in the region still exist. This should be an important question for future research of security studies of Central Asia region.

The cooperation between the United States and China in central Asia is not only a kind of bilateral cooperation; they concern their mutual interests and also refer to the interests of central Asia. No matter China could accept the international reality or not, China must face the challenges after the United States enters central Asia. A safe central Asia will help China, Europe and west Asia to establish a stable connection; it will also cause better economic development and promote the international status and influence of China. The long-term interests of China in central Asia will depend on the cooperation between other superpowers, so China must strengthen the cooperation between America and Russia in order to stable the safety of central Asia. Besides, central Asia plays an important role on the economic and military safety of China. Therefore, in order to maintain the stable development and power balance in central Asia, the United States and China must keep the competitive and cooperative relationship in the future.

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East Turkestan is a geographical term and refers to Xinjiang in China. East Turkestan independence movement aims to unite the races that speak Turkestan and believe in Islam and establish a political and religious East Turkestan republic. Since 1990, East Turkestan independence movement groups have launched all kinds of violent activities in and out of Xinjiang, seriously threatening Xinjiang¡¦s social stability and Chinese Communist government. As terrorism has spread around the world since 9-11 Event, Chinese Communist government has regarded East Turkestan independence movement as a term for terrorism. Through participating in the International Anti-terrorism league, Chinese Communist government suggests East Turkestan independence movement as a target for anti-terrorism. Meanwhile, international terrorism has not been ended by the International Anti-terrorism league led by the USA, and instead terrorism has continued to spread around the world. Since 9-11 Event, anti-terrorism has become an important mission for China due to its territory completeness and national security. China carries out anti-terrorism campaign due to its national interests in a domestic political sense as well as its national interests in an international political sense, such as interests of politics, security, economics, diplomacy, and so on. In order to cope with domestic and international anti- terrorism situations, China not only takes measures in policy, law, military, diplomatic cooperation and Olympic Games, but also dominantly establishes Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) , aggressively participating in international counter-terrorism ,having an equivalent position with Russia and USA in central Asia, creating a subtle relationship of cooperation and competiveness with these two superpowers in the aspects of counter-terrorism.

U.S. led Western Democracies have imposed comprehensive sanctions on the PRC government by ceasing high-level exchanges politically and canceling bilateral cooperative agreements economically in response to the PRC¡¦s 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square demonstrators. At that time, former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping brought up a ¡§24 character¡¨ strategy for China¡¦s foreign and security policy: ¡§observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership.¡¨ PRC did not gradually disengage from the U.S. led isolation until the U.S. government resumed high-level exchanges in 1993. The end of the Cold War meant that China was the major beneficiary of greatly reduced superpower penetration, and this strengthened the interregional dynamics of the Northeast and Southeast Asia. After PRC disengaged from diplomatic isolation made by U.S. - led Western Democracies and began to have the power to influence regional security affairs, a China-centered East Asian regional security complex was born. From lack of confidence in constructing in East Asian regional security complex in the mid 1990s, China became active and could rule the RSC after late 1990s. The goal of PRC¡¦s security strategy is to form an anti-U.S.-led East Asia military alliance to protect its national security interest. In the existing regional security complexes, the framework of ASEAN Regional Forum was separated into ¡§ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership¡¨ and ¡§non ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership¡¨ camps in 2003. China established the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2001 and allowed one of the axis of evil states- Iran to participate in the Organization in 2005. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization will develop into an anti-U.S.-led military alliance under China¡¦s manipulation. In 2003, the U.S. government urged China to play a responsible stakeholder role in the Six-Party Talks instead of being a draft- making secretary. The PRC¡¦s participation in constructing East Asia regional security complexes is analogous to a state that clothed neo-realism but harangued regional security interdependence. On the one hand it reprehends the U.S. East Asia military alliance as an out-of-date cold war thinking. On the other hand, PRC¡¦s military expenditure from 1996 to 2006 shows an annual growth of more than 10 percent. The mutual security in East Asian regional security complexes are still being constructed. China participates in The Six-Party Talks and ASEAN Regional Forum while sometimes it will depend on particular circumstances to make certain contributions, but rules the Shanghai Cooperation Organization with its full strength to keep it operate as China¡¦s political will. The aim of this thesis is to examine the changing characteristics of the regional security complexes in East Asia. The thesis focuses on the foreign policies and strategies of PRC¡¦s participation in those security complexes from mid 1990s. Finally, this thesis will to explore what will impact on the East Asian regional security complex when China participates in and try to construct it, and who will construct whom.

The September 11 Event has turned Central Asia into a complex geo-strategic position, creating a status of new balance of power. At the same time, great powers also have tried to dominate the region by establishing diplomatic relationships with the Central Asian states, which is highly challenged to China’s traditional interests and strategic calculations in Central Asia. While China continues to play a crucial role in terms of its intention and approach toward future Central Asia development, the other two great powers, Russia and the United States, will certainly exert influence in this region as well. Especially, the U.S.-led War on Terrorism has immediately changed the original strategic landscape of Central Asia, compressing China’s strategic space created since post-Cold War. Consequently, China has taken flexible foreign policies in response to U.S. containment. Also, China and Russia have formed a strategic partnership to balance U.S. influence. Therefore, China’s strategic considerations of Central Asian states are based on four aspects as follows: (1) Xinjiang independence issue; (2) maintaining stability of its western borders; (3) energy need; and (4) the balance of power in Central Asia. With well management of Shanghai Corporation Organization (SCO) as a platform, China has successfully maneuvered its strategic calculations in Central Asia, creating a truly multi-polar world system best served to its national development in the long run.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the changing characteristics of the regional security complex in Central Asia. The thesis focuses on the changes in the roles that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) plays in promoting regional security in Central Asia, especially since the formation of the international coalition against international terrorism in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. Contrary to the mainstream literature that focuses mainly on the security concerns of either regional powers or of great powers that considered this region as their own sphere of influence, this thesis argues that Central Asia&rsquo / s security issues that emerged in the aftermath of 9/11 could be explained better by taking the emerging regional security complex in Central Asia as the main unit of analysis. The thesis consists of seven chapters: In Chapter 1, thesis is introduced. Chapter 2 develops a conceptual framework for the thesis by examining the nature of regional security complex theory. This is followed by the examination of the characteristics of regional security complex in Central Asia in Chapter 3. Next, Chapter 4 discusses the foreign policies of the United States, Russia and China towards Central Asia. Chapters 5 and 6 examine the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, its role in the struggle against international terrorism and their reflections on the changes of the characteristics of Central Asian regional security complex. Last chapter concludes the thesis.

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The purpose of this thesis is to examine the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a regional organization and its role on the policies of People&rsquo / s Republic of China towards Central Asia. Central Asia region is important for Beijing because of plenty of reasons like energy, commercial ties, balancing weight of United States and security of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. In this respect, relations of China with this important region constitute great importance in order to understand current situation and future of China. SCO, as mainly a security organization, has been transformed to a multi purpose organization and it has begun to occupy important place in policies of China towards Central Asia. SCO is a very effective instrument for China in order to implement her policies, increase her influence and solve her problems in the region. This thesis consists of five chapters / explanation of conceptual framework and introduction of the study will be made in Chapter 1 and then broad definition of SCO will be made in Chapter 2. In the 3rd chapter, sources and aims of Chinese foreign policy, Central Asia policy and effects of SCO to these elements will be explained. In chapter 4, attitude of other important powers to SCO will be examined and at the last Chapter thesis will be concluded.

L’émergence de la Chine ajoute une nouvelle donnée dans la reconfiguration géopolitique de l’Asie centrale après la dissolution de l’Union soviétique. Cependant il y a peu de connaissances sur les intentions de la Chine en Asie centrale et la façon dont la politique chinoise se développe vers cette région. Tout en partant de la méthodologie géopolitique, et empruntant quelques théories des relations internationales, l’étude analyse le positionnement de la Chine en Asie centrale. Nous constatons que la Chine s’adapte de plus en plus à la nouvelle situation centrasiatique par l’adoption de l’approche multilatérale dans sa politique étrangère. Ses activités dans la région sont principalement soutenues par l’Organisation de Coopération de Shanghai, dont le prédécesseur est le Shanghai Cinq visant à résoudre la démarcation et la démilitarisation des zones frontalières. La Chine est ainsi devenue un acteur majeur et flexible, qui a relativement bien réalisé ses intérêts nationaux, tels que la stabilité du Xinjiang, la sécurité des frontières, le développement économique et l’importation énergétique. / The emergence of China adds a new data in the geopolitical reconfiguration of Central Asia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. However, there is little knowledge about the intentions of China in Central Asia and how China’s policy is developing towards the region. Using the geopolitical methodology and borrowing some theories of international relations, the study examines the positioning of China in Central Asia. We noticed that China is becoming increasingly better adapted to the new Central Asian situation by adopting a multilateral approach in its foreign policy. Its activities in the region are mainly supported by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose predecessor is the Shanghai Five to resolve the demarcation and demilitarization issues of the border areas. China has become a major and flexible player, which has relatively well achieved its national interests, such as Xinjiang’s stability, border security, economic development and energy imports.