Astana extended the visa-free stay period for Chinese citizens, Biškek is preparing to do the same. On May 18 and 19, Xi Jinping will meet in Xi’an with the presidents of the former Soviet republics. Beijing intends to revive the Belt and Road Initiative, which is at risk of stalling. But local activists are protesting the crackdown in neighboring Xinjang, with which they have deep ties.
Astana () – In recent weeks, initiatives have multiplied to promote the flow of people for commercial, tourist and cultural purposes between China and Central Asia. Kazakhstan extended the visa-free stay period for Chinese citizens, who can now stay for 30 days, and Kyrgyzstan is preparing to follow Astana’s lead. Many wonder what consequences this turn of events may have for the future of the entire region.
China is trying to open its economy and its diplomacy to the world, after three years of great restrictions due to Covid-19, and the Central Asia region seems to be one of the areas favored by Beijing’s new policy. Trade with the five states of the former Soviet Union is recovering to pre-pandemic levels, and on May 18 and 19, in Xi’an, Xi Jinping himself will personally receive his presidents. On that occasion they will approve the visa-free entry regime at a much broader level.
Beijing and Astana are defining an articulated agreement in this sense already before the summit, in order to exceed the 14-day limit for Chinese tourists, a condition that also exists in Uzbekistan. Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Žeenbek Kulubaev informed Žogorku Keneš, Biškek’s parliament, that he in turn had raised the issue in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, “and now we want to make this commitment a reality.”
China needs to inject new life into the “One Belt, One Road” project, the Silk Road in which it has invested many billions of dollars and which risks stagnating. To do this, it also needs to normalize the situation in Xinjiang, the geographic and ethnic region that borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Symbolic signals, even before economic investments, indicate the reactivation of progress at all levels.
As Raffaello Pantucci, Research Associate at Singapore’s “S. Radjaratnama” School of International Research, states in a commentary published in ozodlik, “China’s image and trade relations have suffered greatly in recent years, when the borders were closed, and now it feels the need to open its doors wide.” In addition to the pandemic, the strong repression of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, such as the Kazakhs and the Kyrgyz, has greatly complicated dialogue with these countries, to the point that the accusation of “genocide” resonated in several parliaments.
Many Central Asian activists have reiterated their protests against the Beijing government, among other things because of their many family ties to the persecuted in Xinjiang, some of whom have managed to escape and recount the violence they suffered. Hoping to reap the benefits of the revival of trade, the Kazakhstan government tries to silence these anti-China demonstrations as much as possible.
“A lot depends on the flexibility of Kazakhstan’s business, on its ability to ensure the necessary flows not only for its internal needs, but for all markets in Central Asia, Eurasia and China, multiplying growth and investment opportunities,” he said. Adyl Kaukenov, an expert at the Kazakh Institute for Strategic Research in Astana. According to official statistics, 40% of Kazakh-Chinese trade takes place in Xinjiang. If at the end of 2020 China invested around 40 billion dollars in Central Asia, by the end of 2022 this amount increased to more than 70 billion dollars.
Kazakhstan serves as the main communications and transport hub between China and Europe, and is now increasingly trying to fill the void left by Russia’s exclusion from trade routes due to sanctions, when it was previously the main guideline. Together with other countries such as Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, it is trying to make the “Middle Corridor” a reality, as the Trans-Caspian route is called, the current hinge between Europe and Asia.
Photo: Flickr/haaijk
