Stability Maintenance and the ‘Three Evils’: Framing China’s Role in Central Asia

This article analyzes 430 security-related press releases from meetings between officials from China and the Central Asian republics between 1991 to January 2023 to examine how its threat perceptions have evolved. First, China's focus on the Three Evil Forces (terrorism, extremism, separatism) has won its support and cooperation from regimes across the region. Second, China has advanced a number of new security concepts over the years, most recently the Global Security Initiative. Each of these concepts, as well as frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and China + Central Asia, advance China's vision of a multipolar world order in which universal values are replaced with adherence to state sovereignty and cultural relativism. This article argues that China's securitized approach to regional foreign policy-making has helped coordinate local responses to disparate challenges while granting them political buy-in and support to mobilize state resources to promote regime stability.