With its dozen blue-roofed villas, a brand-new sauna house, casino and three-star hotel constituting the heart of what this frigid outpost at the border of Central Asia fancies as downtown, Alashankou would seem an unlikely spot for the economic and political reordering of an entire region. A booming China looms as the economic locomotive, and even the model, for the entire region. That means China finds itself in a position to call the tune ... Increasingly, there are signs that Chinese influence is spreading. Meanwhile, China has been busily building new security relationships. "Central Asia is a fantastic lens, or model for what China is trying to do all over its periphery: reaching out and settling old scores, and trying to establish a benign kind of hegemony." "We are destined to become a very important region. Our neighbors love Chinese money, Chinese products, Chinese expertise and Chinese technology." China Moves Toward Another West: Central Asia | 
