First, the strategic goal of the "open door" policy.
1. Maintaining the political independence of Central Asian countries and preventing Central Asia from being dominated by other big countries again, thus re-emerging hegemonic challengers in Eurasia, is the core strategic goal of the "open door" policy. Eurasia is the largest continent in the world, the main stage of world history and the center of global politics, economy and culture. Before the geographical discovery, the history of Eurasia was almost equal to the history of the world. After entering the marine age, the contest between land powers and maritime powers has become the basic content of global hegemony, and all land powers come from Eurasia. The Cold War, which lasted nearly 50 years in the last century, is a typical example. Although the Cold War ended in the victory of the United States, the United States did not relax its strategic vigilance against Eurasia, but continued to be wary of the possible re-emergence of hegemonic countries in Eurasia, trying to prevent the re-emergence of a powerful country in Eurasia that could challenge its hegemony like the former Soviet Union. Brzezinski, a famous American strategic analyst, once said that "all countries that may challenge the leadership of the United States politically and economically are in Europe and Asia". [ 1]
Therefore, although there are no countries in Eurasia that can compete with the United States for world hegemony, the position of Eurasia in the global strategy of the United States has not declined, and preventing the emergence of countries that can challenge American hegemony has become a new geostrategic goal of the United States in Eurasia. Central Asia is located in the heart of Eurasia and its strategic position is very important. To the south, you can enter the oil-rich Middle East; North can enter the Russian Caucasus and Siberia; To the west, you can enter Transcaucasia and even the Black Sea; To the east, it points to Xinjiang, China. Therefore, as long as any country can control Central Asia, it can greatly enhance its right to speak in Eurasian affairs, and then it may become the new hegemon of Eurasia. "Central Asian countries themselves are not the forces that dominate the world, but only play the role of' weight'. Whoever controls Central Asia will increase the strength of the region and the world and win favorable strategic space. " [2]
During the Cold War, the former Soviet Union exerted great strategic pressure on American interests in South Asia and the Middle East by virtue of its control over Central Asia. At that time, the United States was eager to separate Central Asia from the Soviet Union, but it could not start. The disintegration of the Soviet Union has enabled the United States to realize its long-cherished wish, and it is undoubtedly the most desirable situation for the United States that the five Central Asian countries break away from Soviet control and become independent countries. In the eyes of the United States, the independence of the five Central Asian countries means that other countries can no longer use Central Asia to exert influence on Eurasian affairs. However, the United States soon noticed that the five Central Asian countries were unstable because of their weak national strength, and neighboring countries such as Russia, Iran and Turkey were eyeing Central Asia. In particular, Russia continues to regard Central Asia as its sphere of influence, doing everything possible to expand its influence in Central Asia in an attempt to continue to dominate Central Asian affairs.
The United States, like other countries, also hopes to become a leader in Central Asia, thus radiating its influence in the center of Eurasia. "The United States is trying to bring Central Asia into its dominant military and political track, so as to establish a land strategic fulcrum to deal with the two-ocean strategy in the central part of Eurasia and support and improve its military strategic deployment in Eurasia." [3]
However, due to a series of reasons, the United States cannot become the leader of Central Asia in a short time: (1) Central Asia is far away from the United States, deep into Eurasia, and far away from the ocean, which is not conducive to the United States' maritime superiority; (2) Central Asia is the territory of the former Soviet Union, and Russia has overwhelming traditional influence; (3) The ethnic and religious problems in Central Asia are very complicated, the situation is turbulent for a long time, and the social form is very different from that of the United States, so it is difficult for the United States to really control it; (4) Because the United States has never set foot in Central Asia before, it lacks the necessary strategic foundation in this region. Therefore, in order to prevent the hegemonic challenger from reappearing in Eurasia, the United States can only try its best to prevent Central Asia from being dominated by other big countries (mainly Russia) when it cannot dominate Central Asia at present.
Brzezinski brilliantly expounded this point: "The United States is too far away from this part of Eurasia (mainly Central Asia) to become the dominant force, but the United States is too powerful to participate in the affairs of this region. ..... Therefore, the primary interest of the United States is to help ensure that no big country alone controls this geopolitical space ... "[4]122.
2. Promoting the all-round economic and social development of Central Asian countries and preventing Central Asia from being infiltrated and controlled by Islamic extremism and becoming a new source of terrorism is a secondary strategic goal of the "open door" policy. After the "911"incident, the position of anti-terrorism in American national strategy rose rapidly and became the top priority of foreign policy. Afghanistan, the base camp of Al Qaeda and the main battlefield of the war on terror, is close to Central Asia. Moreover, there are many Muslim residents in Central Asia and the ethnic composition is complex. After independence, the activities of the "three forces" dominated by religious extremism, international terrorism and national separatism were rampant. Moreover, due to the low level of economic and social development, political power in various countries is concentrated and corrupt, and social contradictions are sharp and complicated. The United States believes that this situation in Central Asian countries is very conducive to the survival and development of terrorism in the region. Once international terrorism spreads to Central Asia, Central Asia will surely become a new source of terrorism after Afghanistan.
In the eyes of the United States, the "open door" policy can not only prevent Central Asia from being dominated by other big countries, but also help Central Asian countries get rid of the threat of terrorism. On the one hand, by promoting exchanges and contacts between Central Asian countries and the outside world, we can promote the economic and social development in Central Asia, promote the reform of political systems in various countries, ease social contradictions, and fundamentally eliminate the social foundation for the breeding and spread of terrorism. On the other hand, Central Asian countries with "open doors" can get new support and support from the western world headed by the United States, which will help strengthen the ability of secular regimes in various countries to fight terrorism and prevent the infiltration and spread of terrorism in Central Asian countries. Finally, Central Asian countries with "open doors" can better assist the United States in carrying out anti-terrorism operations in Afghanistan, thus improving the external environment of Central Asia and indirectly cooperating with Central Asian countries in counter-terrorism. Therefore, the "open door" policy pursued by the United States in Central Asia is also based on the strategic consideration of combating terrorism to a certain extent, although this is not its core strategic goal.
Second, the strategic means of the "open door" policy.
1. Strengthen political ties with Central Asian countries, encourage their "de-Russianization" tendency, and prevent them from forming alliances with other big countries, especially Russia. For the United States, the disintegration of the Soviet Union gave it a dream opportunity to intervene in Central Asia, so it cherished the independent status of Central Asian countries and feared that the Central Asian countries with weak national strength would be controlled by neighboring powers, especially Russia. Therefore, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the United States quickly took measures to consolidate the political independence of Central Asian countries. In fact, before the Soviet Union and the former Supreme Soviet of the United States adopted the declaration declaring the disintegration of the Soviet Union on the morning of1991kloc-0/2.26 local time, the American government had already recognized the independent status of the Central Asian countries. At the same time, the United States immediately began to establish preliminary relations with Central Asian countries in various fields and adopted a two-way policy called "active contact": on the one hand, it sent senior officials including Secretary of State Baker to visit Central Asian countries and establish diplomatic relations with them; On the other hand, a large number of leaders of Central Asian countries are invited to visit Washington to show their support for the independence of Central Asian countries and help them establish and consolidate their political power through consultation. As alcott, a famous American politician who was then President Bush's adviser, said: "The United States should teach them how to become independent countries, and these countries must first be independent of Russia. Only in this way can Central Asia be legally independent. " [5]
The United States has always been highly vigilant about Russia's political ambitions in Central Asia: "Russia has never given up its great power ambitions in this region. Shortly after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, Moscow tried to gain clear recognition from the international community for its special status in the former Soviet Union. Therefore, the United States' support for the independence and sovereignty of these countries has become support for their independence from Moscow. " [6]
After the independent status of Central Asian countries was consolidated, the United States not only did not stop, but further alienated the relations between Central Asian countries and Russia, encouraged their tendency of "de-Russification", and especially prevented them from forming alliances with neighboring countries such as Russia. The United States is wary of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization advocated by Russia and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization led by China and Russia. 1In February 1999, after the United States and Uzbekistan set up a bilateral committee, the latter announced its withdrawal from the Russian-led CIS collective security treaty. Subsequently, with the behind-the-scenes support of the United States,1April 1999, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova formed the GUAM group with anti-Russian tendencies. After the "9. 1 1" incident, with the large-scale military presence of the United States in Central Asia, the United States' policy of alienating Central Asian countries and Russia through aid has become more obvious. It is only because Central Asian countries generally pursue the strategy of balancing great powers and seek the benefits of fishermen in the competition between the United States and Russia that the American plan has not been fully realized.
The political independence of Central Asian countries is the basis and the basic content of the "open door" policy of the United States. Therefore, since Russia will not give up its political ambition to dominate Central Asia, the United States will continue to alienate the relations between Central Asian countries and Russia in order to implement the "open door" policy in Central Asia.
2. Provide economic assistance to Central Asian countries to promote their economic ties with the outside world, so as to reduce their economic dependence on Russia, especially in the field of energy export. In modern society, economy is the lifeblood of a country. The United States is soberly aware that as long as it depends on Russia economically, Central Asian countries must bow to Russia in politics, military affairs and diplomacy, which means that Central Asia is still Russia's sphere of influence in essence. In order to prevent Central Asian countries from becoming servants of Russia economically, the United States thinks it is necessary to find ways to weaken the economic dependence of Central Asian countries on Russia, especially in the field of energy export. In the eyes of the United States, as long as the Central Asian countries open their doors to the whole world economically, not just to Russia, and "ensure that the whole world can enter the region without hindrance in finance and economy", [4] 122, then the economic dependence of Central Asian countries on Russia will be greatly weakened, and Russia will be unable to control Central Asian countries and dominate Central Asian affairs by economic means. In order to promote the economic "open door" of Central Asian countries, the United States has mainly taken the following measures:
First of all, in order to promote the economic development of Central Asian countries after independence and establish a market economy in Central Asia, the United States has given a lot of economic assistance to Central Asian countries. Specifically, American economic assistance to Central Asian countries is reflected in two aspects: First, direct financial assistance. At the beginning of independence, the economic situation of Central Asian countries was very bad and they were in urgent need of financial support. This is undoubtedly a rare opportunity for the United States. Therefore, since 1997, the United States has provided financial assistance to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan every year, and Tajikistan also became the aid target in 2002. According to statistics, the United States' "humanitarian aid and reform start-up funds" for Central Asian countries are as high as $2.2 billion per year on average. [7]
After the 911incident, the United States further increased its financial assistance to Central Asian countries. American financial assistance has played an important role in helping Central Asian countries tide over the economic difficulties and develop their economies, which has been welcomed by Central Asian countries, and at the same time, it has greatly brought the relationship between the United States and Central Asian countries closer. The second is to help Central Asian countries establish a market economy system. Central Asian countries inherited the planned economic system of the former Soviet Union. The United States believes that the planned economic system is not only unfavorable to the establishment of democratic politics in Central Asia, but also unfavorable to the integration of Central Asian countries into the international economic system. To fundamentally realize the opening of Central Asia, we must establish a market economic system. To this end, the United States has actively taken measures to help Central Asian countries adjust their economic structure, covering all aspects of economic development. The promotion of the United States has played a positive role, and countries have made remarkable progress in establishing a market economy. In particular, Kazakhstan was recognized as a "market economy country" by the US Department of Commerce in 2002. However, due to the lack of market economic foundation and political system, the complete establishment of the market economic system in Central Asia still faces many difficulties.
Secondly, the United States actively promotes the construction of oil and gas pipelines that do not cross Russia, so as to change the passive situation that Central Asian countries are subject to Russia in the field of energy export. Due to historical reasons, all the original oil and gas export pipelines in Central Asia pass through Russia, which leads to the dependence of Central Asian countries on Russia in the field of energy export, and Russia often threatens Central Asian countries with this. The United States realizes that as long as it continues to rely on Russia in the field of energy export, there will be no economic independence or even political independence of Central Asian countries. Stephen O 'Sullivan, head of the Institute of United Financial Group of Russia, said: "One of the main purposes of the US energy policy is to prevent Central Asia and Transcaucasia from relying on Russia, not only to make it politically independent, but also to make it economically independent." [8]
Therefore, after the Cold War, America's energy policy in Central Asia closely revolved around the construction of a new energy export pipeline that does not cross Russia, and achieved remarkable results. As early as 1999, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey signed an agreement on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project (i.e. Caspian oil pipeline project) under the leadership and financial guarantee of the United States. As the pipeline directly transports oil and natural gas from Central Asian countries to the Mediterranean Sea without passing through Russia, the project was completed in July 2006, greatly reducing the dependence of Central Asian countries on Russia in energy export.
At the same time, the United States has also vigorously promoted the construction of a north-south oil and gas pipeline from Central Asia to Pakistan or India via Afghanistan, with the aim of transporting oil and gas resources from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean. However, due to the impact of the war in Afghanistan, the plan is still under planning.
Third, the United States is also happy to see and support the European Union, Japan and other economies to develop economic ties with Central Asian countries and further expand the economic openness of Central Asian countries. The United States' strategic concept of "diluting" Russia's influence in Central Asia has received positive responses from the European Union and Japan. In Central Asia, "the geopolitical goal of the EU is to prevent Central Asia from being controlled by other big countries, especially Russia" [9] 66 "This coincides with the open door policy of the United States in Central Asia. To this end, the EU actively develops economic ties with Central Asian countries, supports Central Asian countries to join the World Trade Organization, and helps Central Asian countries to integrate into the international economic and trade system. In addition, the EU has also given a lot of economic assistance to Central Asian countries through the Tasis program. Since the independence of Central Asian countries, the EU's assistance to the five Central Asian countries has reached165438+32 million euros. [9] 66 "More importantly, because the EU is heavily dependent on imports in energy, about 40% of its natural gas and 30% of its oil come from Russia. In the "Russian-Ukrainian energy war", the EU suffered heavy losses. Therefore, the EU actively cooperates with the US plan to build energy pipelines around Russia, and proposes to lay a trans-Caspian pipeline across the Caspian Sea with the US. As far as Japan is concerned, developing economic relations with Central Asian countries rich in oil and gas resources is obviously beneficial to its energy imports. Therefore, since the independence of Central Asian countries, Japan has actively contacted Central Asian countries and provided them with a lot of economic assistance. In August 2004, in order to deepen all-round relations with Central Asian countries, the strategic concept of establishing "five Central Asian countries+Japan" was put forward. As a traditional ally or "little brother" of the United States, Japan's strengthening of economic relations with Central Asian countries has obviously gained the acquiescence and support of the United States.
3. Promote military security cooperation with Central Asian countries, and strive to bring it into the track of normalization and NATO, so that Central Asian countries can gradually get rid of Russia's super influence at the military level. An important feature of Russian military strategy is to emphasize the extension of strategic defense deployment as much as possible and strive to obtain as many defense buffers as possible. Therefore, although Central Asian countries have become independent countries, Russia still regards Central Asia as the frontier base of its strategic deployment and continues to maintain its monopoly influence in Central Asia at the military level. To this end, Russia not only stationed troops in Central Asian countries and strengthened its military presence in the region, but also established an integrated air defense system with the Central Asian countries under the leadership of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization and the treaty framework, and tried its best to maintain close military alliances with Central Asian countries. At the same time, it also uses various means to eliminate or weaken the military influence of the United States in Central Asia and opposes the entry of external forces into Central Asia. On the other hand, due to the army born out of the former Soviet Union, the armies of Central Asian countries are inextricably linked with Russia in organizational system, weapons and equipment, logistics support and so on, and have a certain dependence on Russia. Moreover, because of their weak military strength, Central Asian countries also hope to rely on Russia to maintain military security in a sense. All these are objectively helpful for Russia to pursue monopolistic military influence in Central Asia.
Russia's military influence in Central Asia is a thorn in the side of the United States. For the United States, which has always believed in military strength, as long as the Central Asian countries can't get rid of Russia's domination at the military level, Central Asia will always be Russia's sphere of influence, and there is no way to "make a good start". Only when Central Asia is separated from Russian control militarily and "open door" is realized in the military field can the "open door" in other fields be reliably guaranteed. Therefore, since the independence of Central Asian countries, the United States has established and strengthened its military presence in Central Asia, strengthened its military cooperation with Central Asian countries, and made it one of its important strategic goals to exclude Russian military influence in Central Asia. To this end, the United States actively promotes bilateral military cooperation among Central Asian countries through military exchanges and joint exercises, and also provides weapons and equipment and financial assistance to Central Asian countries. According to incomplete statistics, from the early 1990s to the "911"incident, the United States * * * provided more than $30 million in direct military assistance to the armed forces of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and if indirect or other forms of assistance are added, it will far exceed this figure. [ 10]
Moreover, the United States actively promotes Central Asian countries to join NATO's Partnership for Peace program, strengthens military cooperation with Central Asian countries through joint exercises and personnel exchange visits under the NATO framework, and enhances its military influence in the region. However, due to the deep traditional influence of Russia in Central Asia and the distance between Central Asia and the United States, the progress made by the United States before the "9. 1 1" incident was not outstanding.
The "9. 1 1" incident provided a golden opportunity for the US military to enter Central Asia. The United States quickly established military bases in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan also expressed their support for the U.S. military's anti-terrorist actions and were willing to provide logistical support and convenient conditions such as passing through airspace. At the same time, the United States has further strengthened its military cooperation with Central Asian countries and increased its military assistance to other countries. Although the United States claims that military entry into Central Asia is the need of the war on terrorism, its strategic intention of excluding Russian military influence in Central Asia is obvious. Kissinger pointed out in 2002: "The problem of the war on terror is more than just tracking and fighting terrorists. Most importantly, we must not lose an excellent opportunity to reorganize the world system. " [ 1 1]
Facts have also proved this point. Although the war on terror in Afghanistan has ended, the United States shows no sign of withdrawing from Central Asia. On the contrary, it is still trying to strengthen its military presence in Central Asia.
4. Actively promote western political systems and values to Central Asian countries in the ideological field, hoping that Central Asian countries will integrate into western society in terms of political systems and social concepts. After the independence of Central Asian countries, although the western-style democratic system marked by the separation of powers and multi-party system was established on the surface, in fact, the so-called "authoritarian political model" with the basic characteristics of presidential centralization was gradually formed. In the eyes of the United States and other western countries, this political model is essentially a disguised dictatorship. If Central Asian countries do not carry out political reform and establish a real democratic system, then Central Asian countries will not be truly recognized and accepted by the international community represented by western countries. Therefore, the United States believes that it is necessary to promote democratic political reform in Central Asian countries in order to truly integrate them into the international community. Only in this way can the "open door" policy be implemented smoothly. Moreover, the United States is also worried that the authoritarian political model will suppress the political rights of ordinary people and intensify social contradictions, making Central Asia a new source of terrorism after Afghanistan. "The United States believes that if the general public does not have any channels to express their dissatisfaction in a constructive way, they may turn to accept the simple but violent way proposed by extremists." [ 12]
Therefore, whether for the purpose of carrying out the "open door" policy or for the purpose of the war on terrorism, it is imperative for the United States to promote democratic political reform in Central Asian countries. That's what happened. Democratization of Central Asian countries has always been another important strategic goal of the United States in this region besides security and energy. Especially after the "9. 1 1" incident, with the US troops stationed in Central Asia, the United States has also increased the pressure on the "democratization" transformation of Central Asian countries. The United States not only exerts direct political pressure on governments, but also uses economic assistance to induce governments to take the initiative to carry out political reforms; They not only have frequent dialogues and exchanges with Central Asian countries on the issue of democratization aboveboard, but also secretly support political enemies of various countries and even incite relevant countries to carry out a "color revolution"; In addition, the United States also pays attention to using the power of non-governmental organizations to promote democratic activities in Central Asia. It can be said that in order to "democratize" Central Asian countries, the United States has left no stone unturned and racked its brains. However, due to the huge differences in cultural and social development levels, the progress made by Central Asian countries in political reform is still very limited. Central Asian countries also generally resent this practice of the United States. Therefore, in recent years, the United States has slowed down the "democratization" transformation of Central Asian countries for the strategic consideration of "anti-terrorism first" so as not to affect the anti-terrorism cooperation between Central Asian countries and the United States. Nevertheless, the United States will not give up its demand for political reform in Central Asian countries.
In addition, due to the long-term closure of Central Asia, there is little contact with the outside world outside the former Soviet Union, the level of social development is relatively backward, and the ideas of ordinary people are far from those of western society. In the eyes of the United States, this situation is also not conducive to the integration of Central Asian countries into the international community. To this end, the United States actively takes measures to strengthen the ties between the people of Central Asian countries and the outside world, especially the western world, and to urge them to accept western values, so as to facilitate their integration into the international community. For example, the United States attracts a considerable number of Central Asian students to study in American educational institutions every year, and also invites representatives from all walks of life to visit the United States, so that they can personally feel the American system and values. In addition, the United States also uses the Internet and other technical means to instill western values into the people of Central Asian countries, especially young people. In short, the United States has given full play to the great advantages of "soft power" in this regard.
Third, the conclusion
Pragmatism is a major feature of American diplomatic strategy. Obviously, for the United States, which pursues global hegemony, "open door" is by no means its ultimate goal in Central Asia. However, in view of its current lack of strength and objective conditions to dominate Central Asia, the United States consciously chose this temporary expedient. It can be predicted that with the development of the main strategic forces in Central Asia, once there is an opportunity for the United States to lead Central Asian affairs, the United States will inevitably give up the "open door" policy and pursue leading Central Asia instead. In any case, for the long-term closed and backward Central Asian countries, the "open door" policy pursued by the United States can undoubtedly promote their contact with the outside world, enhance their international status, promote their economic and social development, and objectively produce certain positive effects.