Hu, together with the presidents of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, turned a symbolic wheel at a refinery in Samandepe in Turkmenistan's vast Karakum desert which opened the pipeline to start the first gas flowing.

"China is positive about our cooperation and the opening of this gas pipeline is another platform for collaboration and cooperation between our friendly nations," Hu told reporters.

The 7,000 kilometre (4,350 mile) gas pipeline is a significant victory for Beijing, and it effectively ends decades of Russian dominance over the export of Central Asia's strategic energy supplies.

It first runs for 1,800 kilometres in Central Asia -- snaking through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan -- before linking up with a further 5,000-plus kilometres of pipeline in China's far-west Xinjiang region.

The China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) will eventually import up to 40 billion cubic metres of gas a year through the pipeline when it reaches full capacity in 2012-2013.

Central Asia, a vast resource-rich region wedged between Afghanistan, China Russia and Iran, has been dominated by Moscow since the Kremlin began aggressively expanding its imperial borders in the 19th century.

Russia has struggled, however, to maintain its influence here in recent years, especially as its coffers have been depleted by the global financial crisis, which has buffeted Russia's commodities-driven economy.

But where Moscow has faltered, Beijing has succeeded, wielding its influence in the form of its enormous cash reserves, handing out loans and construction projects such as the Turkmenistan pipeline to woo the region's leaders.

Beijing has spent heavily across Central Asia this year, including a 10 billion dollar (6.78 billion euro) loan to Kazakhstan and a four billion dollar (2.71 billion euro) credit to Ashgabat in a bid for access to the massive South Yolotan gas field.

Hu was joined at the ceremony by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Uzbek President Islam Karimov and Berdymukhamedov, a rare gathering by the often bickering neighbours that illustrates China's growing regional clout.

Standing alongside his fellow heads of state in front of the gleaming new metal pipes of the refinery, Berdymukhamedov praised the pipeline as an important step in the development of peaceful regional relations.

"Today's launch of the pipeline will become a new chronicle in the relations of our countries and will stand as a golden page" in their history, Berdymukhamedov told reporters.

Turkmenistan, an energy-rich but isolated ex-Soviet nation, is believed to have some of the world's biggest gas reserves, nearly all of which is currently exported to Russia via a network of ageing Soviet-era pipelines.

Berdymukhamedov pledged to open up his country to greater international cooperation and investment following the death of eccentric dictator Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006.

A pipeline explosion earlier this year sparked a row with Russian energy giant Gazprom that saw exports of Turkmen natural gas almost completely cut off, prompting Ashgabat to accelerate efforts to secure alternative routes.

The European Union has been anxious to exploit the rift to secure Ashgabat's cooperation in a direct export pipeline to help ease Europe's reliance on Russian natural gas supplies, but has struggled to win concessions.

But the speed with which the pipeline was completed -- less than three years -- illustrates China's advantages over its European competitors, said Annette Bohr of the Chatham House foreign policy think tank in London.

"The real success story is China, rather than Turkmenistan, and I think we should keep that in mind. China has been able to operate in Central Asia in a way that no other power has," she said.

"Now with this pipeline actually beginning to work and gas beginning to flow within an unheard of period of time.... is really quite an accomplishment and due more to the Chinese than to the Turkmen."

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