Zhou Yanan

Central Asia as an important subject and actor in the emerging world order draws attention of regional and global powers. Since the beginning of the 21st century, China and India have also initiated a more proactive foreign policy towards the Central Asian states. This article explores the specificities of the implementation of China’s and India’s foreign policies in the Central Asian countries in the political and economic domains. It also conducts a comparative analysis of China’s and India’s foreign policy approaches, priorities, similarities, and differences in Central Asia. It is pointed out that “soft power” constitutes an essential instrument in the implementation of the foreign policies of both countries in Central Asia. It is noted that the main differences in the formation of the Central Asian policies of the two countries include the disparity of trade and economic presence and the difference in the degree of autonomy of the Central Asian policy vector.