Imperial Decline: Russia's Changing Role in Asia (review)

370 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 1998 often brought together. But this is a minor issue resulting from the organization of the text. On the whole, the book is an excellent production with scholarly notes, bibliography and index with Chinese characters, and well-placed text illustrations and adequate plates. A useful reference tool, this work can also serve as a text for the development of a genre. Susan Bush Susan Bush is a specialist in Chinesepainting theory and early Chinesepainting. im Stephen J. Blank and Alvin Z. Rubinstein, editors. Imperial Decline: Russia's Changing Role in Asia. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997. vi, 296 pp. Hardcover $49.95, isbn 0-8223-1905-5. Paperback $16.95, 1SBN 0-8223-1897-0. This is a book by a group of security analysts, so its strong points are in this area. There is not much, however, on economics, nothing on social matters, and little on regional relations. The breakdown of the chapters itselfis interesting. There is an overview of the Russian domestic debate on foreign policy, three chapters dealing with some aspects of China, two that deal with the United States, and one each on Japan, North Korea, and South Korea. Oles Smolansky, in "Russia and the Asia-Pacific Region: Policies and Polemics ," discusses the evolution of Russian policy toward the Asia-Pacific region in terms ofthree stages: December 1991-September 1992, September 1992-December 1993, and December 1993 on. In these periods he traces the polemics between the "Eurasian" and "Westernizer" views ofwhat Russian policy should be. Put simply , the "Westernizer" view placed greater emphasis on Europe and wanted Russia to embrace European civilization. This meant abandoning military force as a means of promoting national interest. It also meant democracy and a market economy, among other things. The Eurasianists felt that the Westernizers accepted Western values too uncritically. This chapter is a good starting point for those interested in what was being said on Russian foreign policy by specific aca-© 1998 by University demies and people in government. ofHawai'i PressIn «Russia and china in Central Asia," Stephen Blank attempts to see Central Asia as part ofAsia and not just a part of the former Soviet Union. In so doing he seeks a richer picture of the Russian, Central Asian, and Asian politics that engulf Reviews 371 the area. China and Russia have common interests in Central Asia—mainly energy resources, but also opposition to religious and political nationalism—and it is precisely these interests that motivate the leaders of Central Asia to remain outside Russian hegemony. Russia, on the other hand, is carrying out a policy ofcoercive reintegration of the Central Asian states. The reasons are varied, but the policy has been pursued in part by attempting to control the outiets for Central Asian oil and gas. This has prompted the Central Asians to seek alternative routes through Iran, China, Afghanistan, and Georgia. Another Russian strategy has been to ensnare the Central Asian nations in a collective security system—run, naturally, out ofMoscow. This has not succeeded. The Central Asian nations have sought help and investment where they can find it—the West, China, Japan, and South Korea. China has been willing to invest in the region because it has a vested interest in the stability ofits neighbors, especially since it has its own ethnic problems in Xinjiang. This has led Beijing to oppose Islamic fundamentalism, to defend Russia's position in the region while strengthening its own, and to take part in regional organizations in order to gain influence there. Blank believes that as China's need for energy grows, so will its involvement in Central Asia and thus its influence. This will come at the expense ofRussia's position, so the Russian-Chinese relationship can be expected to cool in the coming years, and the two countries will probably become rivals in Central Asia. "Russia Looks at China," also by Blank, continues in the vein of the previous essay. Blank believes that the Russian-Chinese relationship is one ofthe most fundamental in Asia: the normalization in relations between the two has affected many other countries. It led India and Vietnam to improve their...