BRI - The Times Of Central Asia

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Is Central Asia China’s Backdoor to Global Power?

As Russia remains preoccupied with the war in Ukraine and the United States is focused on the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, China is seeking to increase its presence in Central Asia. In the current circumstances, the European Union and Beijing appear to be the most active players in the strategically important region; but who is in a better position? Central Asia has become a region where various foreign powers are competing for influence. On June 5, New Delhi hosted the 4th India-Central Asia Dialogue, during which the foreign ministers of the regional nations, along with their Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, discussed anti-terrorism cooperation amid rising regional extremism. Earlier, on April 3–4, the European Union sought to expand its ties with the region through the EU–Central Asia Summit format. Given China’s extensive economic cooperation with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, it is unsurprising that Beijing is seeking to strengthen its strategic influence in the region. The 2nd China-Central Asia Summit, taking in Astana on June 16-17, is yet another opportunity for Beijing to demonstrate that it has the capacity to position itself as an alternative to the growing European presence in the region. According to Dr. Habib Al-Badawi, Professor of International Relations at the Lebanese University, China is also aiming to limit the influence of other powers in the region – especially the United States, and to a lesser extent, Russia. “Moscow appears to accept China's growing economic dominance while trying to maintain its traditional security role. However, Beijing's expanding presence represents a long-term challenge to Russia's historical sphere of influence in the region,” Dr. Al-Badawi told The Times of Central Asia, emphasizing that Moscow and Beijing are more inclined to cooperate rather than compete in the region. Mark N. V. Temnycky, a Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, believes that Moscow is showing a high degree of tolerance toward Beijing’s increased economic, energy, and security presence in Central Asia. Both countries, in his view, share similar objectives in the region, where they act as major trading partners and energy suppliers. The European Union seems to be their major rival in the Central Asia. In Dr. Al-Badawi’s view, unlike the EU that is “solely pursuing the region’s critical minerals,” China appears focused on broader economic integration through infrastructure development and trade partnerships. Dr. Tugrul Keskin, Professor at Cappadocia University and Moderator of Global China Academic Network, seems to share this view. “Beijing’s objectives in Central Asia are driven by a blend of strategic, economic, and security imperatives. While access to critical minerals – including rare earth elements vital for green technologies – is an emerging interest, it is not the primary driver. Unlike the European Union, whose recent engagement has focused heavily on securing raw materials, China’s approach is more comprehensive. It aims to shape the region’s long-term political alignments and economic structures in ways that favor Chinese leadership and diminish Western influence,” Dr. Keskin told The Times of Central Asia. At the same time, Beijing is actively increasing...

Infrastructure Development China BRI Critical Minerals United States

Opinion – The Quiet Competition: How the U.S. Is Losing Ground to China in Central Asia

Over the past decade, China has steadily expanded its presence in Central Asia, not through military force, but by building roads, trade corridors, and digital infrastructure. As the United States scaled back its regional footprint following its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Beijing moved quickly to fill the void. Today, China has positioned itself as the region's dominant external power, while the U.S. risks being left on the sidelines. At the heart of China’s strategy is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has provided over $1 trillion into infrastructure projects globally since its launch in 2013. This includes $704 billion in construction contracts and $470 billion in non-financial investments. In 2024 alone, BRI engagement reached $121.8 billion – $70.7 billion in construction and $51 billion in investments – and trade between China and the countries of Central Asia hit a record $95 billion, highlighting the depth of China's economic integration. This engagement has also created significant financial dependencies. Central Asian countries owe China roughly $15.7 billion, about 8% of the region's total external debt, and these loans are often opaque and carry terms that provide Beijing with outsized political leverage. Chinese firms are also laying fiber-optic networks and constructing electric vehicle corridors to link western China with its neighbors. In Tajikistan, for example, contractors are upgrading the Pamir Highway to support cross-border EV transport. Huawei and other Chinese tech giants are also expanding the region’s telecommunications infrastructure, raising serious concerns about surveillance, data sovereignty, and long-term digital dependency. China’s economic outreach is reinforced by high-level diplomacy. The China–Central Asia (C+C5) format has become the centerpiece of Beijing’s regional engagement. At the 2025 summit, leaders from across the region gathered to coordinate on connectivity, climate resilience, and trade facilitation. The regularity and substance of these summits stand in sharp contrast to the United States’ more sporadic diplomatic presence. The U.S. maintains the C5+1 platform and launched a promising Critical Minerals Dialogue in 2024. However, these initiatives have yet to match the scale or consistency of China's approach as U.S. infrastructure investment is limited, its commercial footprint is small, and diplomatic engagement is too infrequent to shift the region’s strategic trajectory. This matters. Central Asia is strategically located, resource-rich, and increasingly central to global supply chains and geopolitical competition. Kazakhstan alone supplies more than 40% of the world’s uranium. The region also serves as a testing ground for competing development models, and if the United States fails to become a more engaged and credible partner, China’s infrastructure-heavy, state-centric model may become the default. To remain competitive, Washington should recalibrate its approach in Central Asia. This includes pursuing bilateral deals that deliver real impact, such as deepening ties with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan through targeted investment packages, trade agreements, and joint-sector initiatives. It also means securing access to critical minerals by expanding private-sector investment in mining, processing, and transport infrastructure aligned with U.S. supply chain needs. Offering digital infrastructure alternatives is equally essential; the United States must support secure, interoperable, and transparent technology networks that...

Energy China BRI

Uzbek President Mirziyoyev Lauds Strategic Partnership with China

The president of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev will make a state visit to China from January 23rd to 25th, at the invitation of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. On the eve of the visit, the Chinese People's Daily Online published an article by Mirziyoyev, entitled “Uzbekistan and China: millennia-long friendship and cooperation,” in which the Uzbek leader says that Uzbekistan is a friendly neighbor and committed strategic partner to China, and that the development of multifaceted relations with China has always been one of the main priorities of Uzbekistan's foreign policy. Mirziyoyev wrote that Uzbek-Chinese relations are experiencing the best period in their history, with trade, economic and investment cooperation steadily growing. Last year bilateral trade turnover grew by 40 per cent, Mirziyoyev wrote, with China being Uzbekistan’s “top trade partner”. In recent years the volume of Chinese investments in Uzbekistan has increased five-fold, and the number of enterprises with Chinese capital in various sectors of the economy has tripled. A number of large joint investment projects are underway, spanning sectors including technology, alternative energy, chemicals, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, electrical engineering and infrastructure modernization. Mirziyoyev added that “thanks to our Chinese partners, we are taking important steps in developing green energy to create 27 gigawatts of renewable energy generation capacity by 2030”. Mirziyoyev emphasized that Uzbekistan is actively involved in implementing China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has become a global consolidating force. “In 10 years, this grandiose idea of the revival of the Great Silk Road has gained supporters in all corners of the planet, uniting two-thirds of the world's countries. Today, from an appealing concept, it is turning into a practical reality. For us, the BRI is not just an infrastructure project. Through the joint implementation of the initiative, the region is becoming an important link in global connectivity, overcoming transport remoteness.” “Today, we can firmly state that the earlier voiced predictions of skeptics about the predestined fate of the region's countries to become only a transit corridor for China's trade with Europe, South Asia and the Middle East failed to come true,” Mirziyoyev stressed. “Today, investments are increasing in Central Asia, with the number of joint high-technology industries growing, enhancing the economic potential of our countries. China's strategic role enables Central Asia to be open to broad cooperation with the rest of the world, turning the region's geographical disadvantages into advantages.” The Uzbek president also said that the first summit between the heads of state of the Central Asian countries and China, held in May 2023 in Xi'an, was a breakthrough in their relations and set out the future development of multilateral cooperation. “This format has huge potential for building a model of comprehensive development of the states of the region and the western provinces of China, opens the prospects for the transition to close industrial and technological cooperation, as well as the development of transport, digital and humanitarian connectivity of the Central Asian countries with China,” Mirziyoyev said.