Central Asian research in the Peoples Republic of China in 2000s

In the beginning of the 2000s China came across a new geostrategic structure in the West - the regional securitysystem in Central Asia has changed dramatically. It was the result of US invasion in Afghanistan and the military actions against terroristgroups in the whole region. Chinese government decided to transform the former Shanghai five mechanism into a regional organization- Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an intergovernmental mutual-security organization, which was founded in 2001in Shanghai. Chinese researchers, formerly majoring in the USSR, then started to cooperate in newly formed structures like ShanghaiCentre of SCO studies under the Fudan University. Many other centres were established in regions, such as The Central Asia StudiesCentre at Lanzhou University and similar in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Ili, Shihezi, Urumqi), Shaanxi, Shanghai in differentorganizational forms, but they shared a common interest - Central Asia Studies. First two research centres, as it was already told, wereestablished under the regional branch of CASS in Urumqi: one was the centre of cultural studies (est. 1980), the other one had no specialtybut was interested more in the region (est. 1985). This sphere and cooperation forms have become the Chinese Academy of SocialSciences (CASS) number one priority, more local ones, but central as well. Under governmental programs current grant funding hasstarted - from the governmental level through the provincial (autonomous region) to the local one. It has an important role in formingnew structures and inviting new staff - government also stated that some leading experts should transfer their experience from the centre(Beijing) to regions (for instance, Urumqi, XUAR). Several researchers, such as Fan Zhiping, Wang Guifang, Li Sheng, Ma Dazhengprepared complex studies on geopolitics, trans-border management and international relations in Central Asia in the late 2000s. Securityproblems were in the centre of interest of Li Jingze, Zhao Changqin, Zhu Chenghu, Cheng Da, etc. Since the beginning of the 2000s thenumber of Chinese studies in Central Asia problems has increased not only in quantity, but in quality too. They started to use modernwestern theories, concepts and methods dealing with the region. It is obvious when one works with the Chinese National KnowledgeInfrastructure (CNKIs database). Chinese government have paid great attention to the financial support for the Research Centres on CAat different levels and individuals as well.

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