While the rest of the world reels from the global economic crisis, China is using its deep pockets to bolster its position in strategically vital Central Asia, analysts say.
In recent months Beijing has been on a spending spree among the Central Asian states to its west, handing over a US$10 billion loan to cash-strapped Kazakhstan last month and stepping up construction projects and investment from Ashgabat to Bishkek.
Although experts say the recent Chinese splurge is part of a long-term strategy for the region, few question the fact that Beijing’s hand has never been stronger, something it is well aware of.
“It’s one of the richest countries in the world and of course in light of the crisis they’re going to play the game,” said Konstantin Syroezhkin, a senior research fellow at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies.
“Everyone else is in such a sorry economic state and China has money to invest,” he said.
A China expert at Almaty’s Institute for Economic Strategies, Adil Kaukenov, revealingly recalls a conversation with a Chinese counterpart who told him: “We’re walking all over the world with suitcases stuffed full of money, because we have to spend it.”
China’s investment pattern in Central Asia fits with a broader strategy that has seen Beijing snap up assets across the world in a drive to convert its massive foreign currency reserves into concrete holdings.
But for nearly two decades since the 1991 Soviet collapse, Beijing has also shown special interest in using its pocketbook to secure stability along its Central Asian border, funding infrastructure projects and investing in key sectors.
Of primary concern for Beijing is the long, porous border between Kazakhstan and China’s Xinjiang Province, Kaukenov said.
Xinjiang is home to a Muslim Uighur ethnic group feared by Beijing for its supposed separatist views — a tension critics say has resulted in human rights abuses by the region’s authorities.
“China has always, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, been extremely worried that terrorists from Xinjiang would find support from the governments of Central Asia,” Kaukenov said.
Multi-million dollar infrastructure projects in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — both wracked by chaos and disorder since the fall of Soviet Communism — are prime examples of China’s strategy.
Electrification and road projects improving the quality of life in these impoverished regions make them less likely to spawn extremists, but also open up their markets to Chinese goods — a win-win situation for Beijing.
Nargis Kassenova, a professor at the elite Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research, has researched Chinese investment and development in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and detects impressive gains for Beijing.
“Tajikistan is so isolated, and to see all these Chinese companies there and the investment in Tajikistan, I was pretty surprised,” she said.
“In pretty much all spheres now you have Chinese goods, Chinese companies ... The level of penetration is quite impressive,” she said.
‘TOO TIRED’: The former mayor’s political party said that he had been questioned for nearly 19 hours, so he declined to be questioned at night, as he felt exhausted Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was arrested early yesterday morning after being questioned by prosecutors over his alleged role in a corruption scandal concerning the Core Pacific City redevelopment project during his tenure as Taipei mayor. The arrest was made after Ko refused to be questioned at night and attempted to leave the prosecutors’ office, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Prosecutors were worried that he would collude with others involved in the case to make false statements if they allowed him to leave, so they issued an order to arrest him, the office said. Ko yesterday sought a court
ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: Only 11.4 percent of Taiwan’s overseas investments last year were in China, and businesses are dispersing their investments elsewhere, Lai said China’s ambition to annex Taiwan is based on a desire to change the rules-based international order, rather than a desire for territorial gains, President William Lai (賴清德) said in an interview. During an appearance on the talk show The View With Catherine Chang, aired last night, Lai said China aimed to achieve hegemony, and that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was an issue of worldwide concern. During the interview, Lai also discussed his “four-pillar plan” for peace and prosperity, which he first outlined in an article published by the Wall Street Journal on July 4 last year. That
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
GRAFT PROBE: Critics questioned Ko claiming he did not know about the Core Pacific floor area ratio issue until this year, citing a 2021 video in which he was asked about it Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released without bail early yesterday, while his deputy during his tenure as Taipei mayor was detained and held incommunicado after being questioned since Friday over graft allegations related to a shopping center redevelopment project. Prosecutors on Saturday filed a request with the Taipei District Court to officially detain Ko and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) over allegations surrounding the redevelopment of Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心). The court yesterday determined that the evidence provided by prosecutors was insufficient to justify the detention of Ko and ordered his