The Study On The EU’s Aid To Central Asia After The Cold War

After the Cold War,the geographical importance of Central Asia became more prominent.Central Asia,which is located in the heartland of the Eurasian continent and is rich in natural resources,is one of the regions where the world’s great powers play games.Countries in the region also frequently face traditional and non-traditional security issues due to historical reasons,which poses threat to the world stability.At the strategic level,the EU’s attitude towards Central Asia has undergone a shift.After the end of the Cold War,although the European Union quickly established diplomatic relations with all five countries,it still regarded this region as a post-Soviet space and a vassal of Russia,the successor of the former Soviet Union.The EU was not aware of the important role of Central Asia in combating terrorism and maintaining world stability until the September 11.Then it began to intervene in Central Asian affairs in a more active manner with a strategy that was both value-oriented and interest-oriented.On the one hand,the cooperation between the EU and Central Asia had political motives and a strong will for institutional reforms.On the other hand,the EU concerned about its own energy security and therefore actively carried out energy-related projects and safety projects,and emphasized in the latest Central Asian strategy to support the five countries to strengthen their resilience against risks.The EU’s foreign aid to Central Asia is the main means to achieve its strategic goals for the region.Initially,there’s only one aid tool to Central Asia,the scale of aid was small,and the aid effect was not ideal.After the launch of the strategy,the European Union began to use multiple aid tools to complement each other and emphasized that multilateral aid and bilateral aid should be parallel,which took into account different development levels among five countries,promoted the effectiveness of EU assistance in this region and enhanced the EU’s overall visibility in the region.BOMCA and CADAP,as the flagship projects in the security field,fully demonstrated how the EU achieved its own strategic interests through foreign aid:a more stable Central Asia helped realize the EU’s energy security.By exporting its own border management methods,the EU was trying to improve the capacity building and institutional building capability of the Central Asian region,so to enhance the governments "good governance",and was conducive to further improving its own visibility and expanding its presence in this region.