Central Asia in the Binary of South Korea’s Eurasian Initiative and Chinese Belt – Road

The Eurasia Initiative (EAI) was launched in 2013 by the South Korean President immediately following Chinese Belt - Road Initiative and was reaffirmed in 2017 by the current President of Korea announcing the new Northern policy. The Korean idea which seeks to link Seoul with Eurasian energy resources and markets has been formulated independent from the priorities and objectives of the Belt - Road Initiative, but South Korea's involvement in BRI is probably the country's only chance to implement its Eurasian Initiative.Examining Central Asia’s geopolitical and geostrategic position and role in EAI and BRI, the present paper discusses the potentialities for convergence between these two initiatives and South Korea's participation in BRI for achieving its Eurasian perspectives. The authors try to find an answer for the following questions: to what factors does the implementation of the EAI depend; and what is Central Asia’s role in this regard? The hypothesis tested is that Seoul’s joining to BRI is the only real chance to implement EAI, and since Central Asia is a joint chapter of both initiatives, Beijing and Seoul’s shared focus can be effective in developing both initiatives. The methodology this paper applies is descriptive-analytical and the library resources are used. The findings also confirm the validity of the research hypothesis.