China’s Influence in Central Asia

This chapter focuses on local responses to China’s influence in Central Asia, a region composed of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and one which is geopolitically important to China because of its natural resource endowments and the ethnic problem in Xinjiang. The concept of the Silk Road Economic Belt was first announced by Xi Jinping in his speech delivered at Nazarbayev University in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on 7 September 2013. Since Xi Jinping’s speech in Astana in 2013, China seems to have successfully strengthened its economic presence in Central Asia, including via the construction of the ‘New Eurasian Land Bridge’ that runs through Central Asia and Russia, becoming one of the biggest trade partners of Central Asian countries. China’s success in Central Asian countries relies on collaboration with local governments and oligarchs, although they are not necessarily Sinophile by conviction.