Communist China’s People’s Liberation Army has established a military presence in Murghab, Tajikistan, close to the Chinese border with Afghanistan. There is also no doubt that Russia’s embarrassing military imbroglio in Ukraine has helped China supersede Moscow as guarantor of Central Asian state sovereignty.- [Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart] Tokayev has…. denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the Kazakh leader is doubtless aware, some notable Russian nationalists such as former Russian Prime Minister and President Dmitry Medvedev have mused that, after Ukraine is dealt with, Kazakhstan will follow.
- China offers Central Asia four basic dimensions of assistance that Russia can no longer provide: financial investment, complementary commerce, development of transport infrastructure, and construction of industrial plants such as oil refineries.
- China is building a Chinese-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which will ultimately span the expanse of Central Asia to the Middle East. Beijing appears determined to link China and Europe by fashioning thoroughfares that avoid crossing Russian territory that pass through a mid-level corridor of the Caucasus countries.
- In exchange, China will be granted wide access to Central Asia’s considerable energy resources. Chinese companies, for example, appear eager to tap into Turkmenistan’s vast natural gas reserves. Chinese oil corporations would also likely dominate Kazakhstan’s petroleum export market to service China’s insatiable desire for more fuel.
- It increasingly looks as if that there is some truth in French President Emmanuel Macron’s comment that Russia appears to have become China’s vassal state. It certainly seems as if the Chinese Communist Party has made considerable progress toward achieving its broad objectives of fostering China’s Global Development and Security Initiatives. Neither plan appears to have a principal role for Moscow.
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