China
An oil camp protest in Mongolia ends with an apology recorded by Beijing
A senior Mongolian official apologised to China's charge d'affaires after protesters raided the camp of a Chinese-invested oil explorer, the South China Morning Post reported, citing the Chinese embassy in Ulaanbaatar.
Kyrgyz fuel importers sign with a second Chinese major
The Kyrgyz fuel mission to Xinjiang has turned talks into signatures. Companies travelling with deputy cabinet chairman Erlist Akunbekov signed supply agreements with China National Petroleum Corporation, per a readout published Wednesday, after Monday's session with Sinopec.
Russia's refineries falter, and Bishkek takes its fuel order to Urumqi
Kyrgyzstan's deputy cabinet chairman Erlist Akunbekov brought representatives of more than 10 fuel companies to Sinopec's table in Urumqi on Monday, with a mandate the cabinet's readout states in one line: “Kyrgyzstan is interested in increasing supplies of petroleum products from China.” About 95% of its fuel now comes from Russia, and Russia's refining is under drone attack.
The summit dated by everyone except its most important guest
Bishkek is closing ten shopping centres, three markets and four underpasses for the first days of September. Beijing has still not said that its president is coming.
Turkmenistan's China trade runs $5 out for every $1 back
Trade between Turkmenistan and China came to $4.82 billion in the first half of 2026, and its structure is the story: $4.04 billion of Turkmen exports against $778 million of imports.
Japarov says the plan was to hand Tashiev the presidency
Kyrgyzstan’s president used a long interview to reveal that he had meant to step aside in January 2027 and make Kamchybek Tashiev head of state, that he changed his mind because his ally was not ready, and that he will now run himself.
Half of Ulaanbaatar’s cars come off the road the day the fuel cap lapses
From 15 August to 12 September, city wide and with no zoning, cars may enter Ulaanbaatar traffic only on alternating days by plate parity, between 07:00 and 21:00. The window covers the desertification conference, the start of the school year, and the morning the petrol rationing expires. Nobody has published how many days of fuel the country holds.
Mongolia's ask at the summit it is paying to host is Gobi water
The national committee for COP17 met for the nineteenth time in Ulaanbaatar on Thursday morning, four days before the desertification conference opens. Mongolia has put 250 billion tugrik of state money into hosting it, about $70 million at the rate the desk logged on 5 August. What it wants out of the fortnight is financing to extend water supply in the Gobi.
Mongolia asks PetroChina for 12,000 tonnes a month
China agreed 6,000 tonnes of petrol for August. The prime minister wants that doubled and made standing, and he wants it cheaper.
Uzbekistan’s satellite reaches orbit with its own AI on board
Samarkand-2028 went up from a sea platform off China’s Shandong coast on Wednesday morning, carrying a hyperspectral camera and an AI module Uzcosmos says its own engineers built.
Kazakhstan’s tungsten leaves before it matters
A metal the world has started to fight over, a pit that needs a slice of a national park to reach it, and a plant built to ship the ore out as concentrate.
A tungsten mine for a million tonnes of ore a year
Patokh Shodiev and Mukadaskhan Ibragimova, with a Chinese partner, will develop the Bayan tungsten deposit in North Kazakhstan region. Peak output is put at 1 million tonnes of ore a year, and the first year at 2,820 tonnes.
Dushanbe opens two Chinese generation tracks in one day
Tajikistan’s energy minister met China Energy about a 200 MW solar plant in the north and China Gezhouba about two hydropower plants on the Zarafshan, both on Tuesday.
Xi Jinping comes to Bishkek for the summit days
China’s president will make a state visit to Kyrgyzstan on 31 August and 1 September, the days of the SCO summit. The file named first is the railway.
Kazakhstan asks to host the founding of China's AI order
In Shanghai on 16 July, 29 states signed the agreement establishing the World AI Cooperation Organization. On the 17th, speaking at the WAIC opening, President Tokayev offered Astana for the body’s inaugural meeting and asked for its Central Asia office. Three weeks after joining the US-led Pax Silica bloc, Kazakhstan holds founding papers in both AI systems.
The AI conference opens with Kazakhstan in the hall
The World Artificial Intelligence Conference opened in Shanghai on Friday, four days, more than 140 forums, over 1,100 companies, with Xi Jinping billed to deliver the opening keynote and a high-level forum on global AI governance as the first day’s main event. Tokayev is attending; what he says there is the day’s watch item.
Shanghai hands Kazakhstan a $15 billion signing day
Tokayev’s administration says his working visit to China has produced more than 70 commercial agreements worth over $15 billion, signed in the course of a visit built around Thursday’s talks with Xi Jinping and a round table with the heads of Chinese companies. On Friday the president moves to the World AI Conference. The week now reads as a single Chinese arc: a legal convention on Monday, an order book on Thursday, algorithm governance to close.
The railway the premier called weak signs $400 million with China
A day after Bektenov’s "remains weak" landed on the cabinet record, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy announced a package of agreements signed with Chinese partners in Shanghai, worth about $400 million, part of it denominated in yuan. In the same days, Tokayev flew to Shanghai to meet Xi Jinping.
Kazakhstan joins the mediation body China built in Hong Kong
Foreign minister Kosherbayev signed the convention of the International Organization for Mediation in Beijing on Monday, making Kazakhstan a member of the first intergovernmental body dedicated to mediating international disputes. It is headquartered in Hong Kong, it was launched by China in 2025, and its membership list is the point.
China builds Tajikistan’s answer to its $600 million rebar bill
On 9 July, Emomali Rahmon toured the site of Tajikistan’s largest new metals project, a plant on the Shohkadam iron-ore deposit meant to end the country’s reliance on imported steel. The company on paper is Tajik. The firms building it, supplying its core technology and wiring its power are Chinese, Indian and Austrian.