China's Rise and Reconfiguration of Central Asia's Geopolitics: A Case for US Pivot to Eurasia

China’s emergence as a global actor has questioned the position of the United States as the strongest power and the future of the Washington-led global order. To achieve the status of a truly global player wielding influence in all dimensions of power would require China to leverage its regional influence in Central Asia. This region is increasingly representing China’s western leg of economic expansion and development and is of a growing strategic importance for Beijing. It is also a region that should be of greater strategic importance to Washington which seeks to preserve its leading position in the international system and ensure China’s peaceful integration in the global political security and economic architecture.