ALMATY, Kazakhstan (TCA) — Protesters in Kazakhstan have gathered for a third day to pressure President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev to cancel a planned trip to neighboring China over perceived corruption and mounting Chinese influence through financial assistance to the Central Asian country, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.
Dozens of demonstrators turned up outside the offices of the head of local government in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, on September 4 to express support for related protests the previous day in the western city of Zhanaozen and several other Kazakh cities.
They are demanding a stop to “Chinese expansion” through factories and other projects in oil-rich Kazakhstan.
A meeting with protesters by a deputy to the regional leader failed to disperse the crowd in Almaty.
Anti-Chinese sentiment in Kazakhstan has been rising in recent months amid reports about the plight of indigenous ethnic groups, including Kazakhs, in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Meanwhile, Kazakh officials are said to be moving ahead on a proposal to build 55 industrial facilities with Chinese financing, furthering popular fears of corruption, undue Chinese influence, and excessive reliance on Chinese investment.
Tokayev is scheduled to pay an official two-day visit to Beijing starting on September 11.
The most recent anti-Chinese protests kicked off on September 2 in Zhanaozen, scene of a deadly crackdown on striking oil workers in 2011.
Subsequent demonstrations have invoked the Zhanaozen events while decrying Chinese money and demanding a thorough overhaul of Kazakhstan’s power structures.
Dozens of protesters gathered on September 3 in the capital, Nur-Sultan, as well as in Aqtobe, in western Kazakhstan, and Shymkent in the south.
