For decades, we have been scared by the “Chinese threat”: they say that China’s expansion will cover the Far East, part of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan. In the USSR, there was such a joke – when at a Chinese party meeting they say: “We will penetrate the Soviet Union in small groups of 1-2 million people.”
But in reality, these forecasts did not come true! China interferes in the lives of Central Asian countries much less than other global players. China does not deploy military bases, does not interfere in political life, does not demand reforms, freedom of speech, the release of political prisoners, does not protect the LGBT community …
In our countries, China is focused on trade and investment.
But, as they say, not everything is so clear-cut. Upon closer examination, many questions arise. Why does China give such cheap loans? Why are many investment agreements non-public? Why do investments often go to obviously unprofitable projects?
Chinese investments in Central Asia amount to billions of dollars, and Kazakhstan’s debt to China, for example, is about $9 billion. But these figures are not so impressive when compared to other countries. For example, Russia owes China more than $90 billion, and the US debt has exceeded a trillion dollars.
So what’s really going on? What does China want from the Central Asian countries?
Expert opinions on the “Chinese threat” are in the video on the AIRAN YouTube channel.
