China Looks To Shore Up Influence In Central Asia After US Minerals Diplomacy

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is in Kyrgyzstan as part of a three-country tour of Central Asia to reaffirm Beijing’s status as the region’s top trading partner following US diplomatic inroads at a high-profile summit in Washington earlier this month.

US President Donald Trump hosted the five Central Asian presidents at the White House in early November for a summit focused on tapping into the region’s abundant and strategic critical mineral wealth.

SEE ALSO: Trump And Central Asia Reach Critical Minerals Deal At Washington Summit

While not in the spotlight, China’s growing economic and political influence in Central Asia was in mind amid the Trump administration’s move to deepen ties to the region.

During the meeting, Washington signed tens of billions of dollars in prospective deals. That included Kazakhstan inking a $1.1 billion tungsten mining deal with the US company Cove Kaz Capital. Pini Althaus, the firm’s CEO, said afterwards that Trump and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick helped negotiate the deal to prevent Chinese companies from developing the strategic deposit themselves.

Wang’s visit to Kyrgyzstan is his first in three years and his tour of the region will last until November 22 with additional stops in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

He landed in Bishkek on November 19 and met with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, who praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping and said that his country’s relations with Beijing are currently at a historic high, according to a readout provided by the Kyrgyz president’s office.

SEE ALSO: Why Is Kazakhstan Joining The Abraham Accords?

Before departing Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry said that Wang’s visit will be focused on deepening the country’s already steady ties with the region by injecting momentum into the slew of agreements worth billions of dollars signed at the China-Central Asia summit in June in Kazakhstan.

“[This visit] will enhance political mutual trust and traditional friendship, deepen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and bring about more positivity to the building of the China-Central Asia community,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told journalists in Beijing on November 17.

The Deals China Is Looking To Implement

A key Chinese-led project discussed during the China-Central Asia summit was the long-awaited multibillion dollar China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway.

The megaproject aims to boost East-West trade, cutting delivery times between China and Europe by up to one week and giving Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan better connection to overland trade routes.

SEE ALSO: Brawl Exposes Growing Anti-Chinese Sentiment In Kyrgyzstan

Construction of the railway began in July 2024, and Kyrgyz Transport and Communications Minister Absattar Syrgabaev said on November 12 that the 450-kilometer-long railway would be completed in five years.

The venture is estimated to cost up to $6 billion, although the exact share of each country’s contribution has not been disclosed. Syrgabaev did not provide a breakdown during his public comments, saying only that “Kyrgyzstan has already fulfilled its funding obligations, and both Uzbekistan and China are also financing their respective shares.”

Beyond the railway, other agreements were also reached on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in September in China.

There, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev signed more than 70 new commercial deals worth some $15 billion, which included investments in oil and gas projects, petrochemicals, transport corridors, logistics hubs, and digital technologies. Astana also concluded an additional $1.5 billion worth of investments into oil and gas projects with Chinese companies.

SEE ALSO: China Continues Its Steady Expansion Into Central Asia On The Sidelines Of Big Summits

Uzbekistan announced 13 new mining-related deals with China following the summit, including for uranium, with a reported value of $5 billion.

Chinese companies also play a dominant role in Tajikistan’s mining sector, and the Tajik government has defended China's growing position within the global mining industry by claiming that Chinese firms have set themselves apart by being the only foreign companies willing to take on such large projects.

A 2024 RFE/RL investigation into major Chinese-run mines in Tajikistan found that the sites are harmful sources of air and water pollution and that Tajik officials have turned a blind eye to enforcing environmental regulations out of fear of scaring away sorely needed Chinese investment into Central Asia’s poorest country.

The five Central Asian countries hold large deposits of copper, gold, and rare earths, and produce roughly half the world’s uranium. Gaining access to those minerals is a developing fault line in Washington’s rivalry with Beijing.

Both China and Russia play major roles in Central Asia’s critical minerals sector.

In the case of rare earths -- 17 elements used in everything from wind turbines to smartphones to fighter jet engines -- China controls more than 70 percent of global rare-earth mining, 90 percent of their separation and processing, and 93 percent of magnet manufacturing.

Incident Involving Chinese Workers

In addition to discussing Chinese investment and infrastructure projects, the readout from Japarov’s office noted that Wang said that representatives of Chinese companies operating in Kyrgyzstan have been being instructed to strictly comply with local laws and respect the traditions of the host country.

That appears to be a reference to a brawl involving dozens of Kyrgyz and Chinese construction workers on November 15 in a village in northern Kyrgyzstan after a road dispute.

Brawl Involving Chinese Workers Sets Off Anti-Migrant Backlash In Kyrgyzstan

Police detained 16 people and called in another 44 for questioning, including Chinese workers. One Kyrgyz worker was hospitalized in the incident, which triggered online anger in the Central Asian country.

The clash also feeds into some lingering anti-Chinese sentiment in the country of 7 million, which is among the most reliant Central Asian countries when it comes to Chinese trade, loans, and foreign investment.

SEE ALSO: A Tool Of Russian Propaganda? New Russia-Linked TV Station To Be Launched In Kyrgyzstan

Chinese companies bringing in their own workers as opposed to using local labor is a point of contention that has flared up in protests in the past.

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev, who Wang also met with, rejected claims that Chinese workers were flooding the country and taking jobs away from locals following the incident.

SEE ALSO: Toqaev Balances Relations With Putin After Landmark US-Central Asia Summit

"There's very little information about China, what kind of cooperation we have, what projects are underway,' Nurbek Toktakunov, a prominent lawyer in Kyrgyzstan, told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service.

“When information is scarce and people get silenced whenever they speak up, that's when xenophobia thrives. The only way to combat it is through transparency.”