China
At China’s Eurasia expo, Kazakhstan is guest of honour and the trade runs one way
Kazakhstan was the guest of honour last week at the China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, where Astana and Beijing set a target of $100 billion in annual trade. China’s trade with Central Asia passed $100 billion for the first time in 2025. The flows, and the advantage, point mostly one way.
At Summer Davos, China shifts from selling to Kazakhstan to building inside it
Kazakhstan’s prime minister spent Summer Davos working a line of Chinese firms, from carmakers to battery giants. The thread running through the meetings is localisation: China moving from exporting goods to Kazakhstan toward manufacturing them there.
As SCO chair, Kyrgyzstan is building the bloc’s money machine in Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan opened an SCO project-support centre in Bishkek on 24 June, one more piece of the financial architecture it is assembling during its turn chairing the bloc. The summit in August is the deadline. A development bank is the prize.
Uzbekistan offers Beijing the value-chain deal Kazakhstan offered Brussels
As Tokayev pressed Brussels to process Kazakh minerals inside Kazakhstan, Tashkent was making the same case to Chinese state firms. Two rival buyers are hearing one regional pitch: build the value chain here. Uranium runs through both.
Tajikistan ordered 14 Boeing jets. The question is what pays for them
A fleet order worth billions sits on an economy that runs on migrant wages, owes its debt partly in gold mines, and routes its hard-currency earnings through offshore shells tied to the president's family. The aircraft are real. The questions the Washington ceremony left out are the ones worth asking.
Mongolia’s two-neighbor squeeze, and the third neighbor that cannot reach it
China’s foreign minister spent three days in Ulaanbaatar this week promising railways and a shared future. The warmth is real, and so are its limits: nearly everything that should give Mongolia bargaining power, from gas transit to rare earths, is worth only what Beijing or Moscow agrees to pay for it.
In one day, Kazakhstan courts Washington, Beijing and Moscow
On a single day this week Kazakhstan opened a US-led minerals dialogue, banked 6 billion dollars from China for a new city, and offered to pump more Russian gas to its neighbour. That is multi-vector foreign policy as a daily schedule.
Kazakhstan’s Alatau roadshow in Shenzhen lands up to $6 billion in deals
A Kazakh delegation came out of a Shenzhen roadshow on 10 June with 24 agreements worth up to 6 billion dollars for its new city of Alatau. The model, and much of the money, is Chinese.
The US and Central Asia open a critical minerals dialogue in Astana
American and Central Asian officials gathered in Astana this week to turn last year’s framework deals into actual mines and processing plants. US Under Secretary Jacob Helberg is there. So are Chinese exhibitors.
The scramble for the Caucasus, from Washington’s bill to a Chinese-built port
In one week Washington moved against Chinese and Russian sway in Georgia, the foreign ministers of Turkiye, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed a declaration in Istanbul, and a Chinese consortium kept its grip on Georgia’s flagship port. The Caucasus is being contested in real time.
US House passes a bill on Chinese and Russian influence in Georgia
The US House passed the Countering China’s Control of the Caucasus Act on 8 June, ordering a classified report on Russian and Chinese intelligence activity in Georgia. It is the sharpest sign yet of Washington’s rift with Tbilisi.
Central Asia declared an AI year. The grid will decide how far it gets
The region is racing to build digital economies, AI centres and crypto hubs. All of it needs electricity Central Asia does not yet have, which is why the same governments are courting Korea, Rosatom and Beijing for new power.
Mongolia is building a railway straight into China's steel industry — and it knows exactly what that means
83 million tonnes of coal exported to China in 2024. A new cross-border railway under construction since April 2025. $1.5 billion in additional annual revenue projected. The numbers are compelling. The dependency is real.
Mongolia went to Shanghai to raise money. 300 investors showed up
The first Mongolia Investment Forum in China closed on May 27. It was the fourth edition of a global series — after New York, London, and Singapore. The choice of city was the message.
Tencent is now a Kaspi.kz shareholder: what a $518 million bet on Kazakhstan means
The deal closed in April. The implications are still unfolding. China's largest consumer tech company has a stake in Kazakhstan's dominant super app.
The SCO at 25: A Quarter-Century of Summits, Zero Kilometres of New Railway
The anniversary session in St. Petersburg today will celebrate what the organisation has become. The Central Asian members are more interested in what it might finally build
Kazakhstan Sells 3.4 Billion Yuan in Debut Sovereign Panda Bond
Demand was twice the supply. The Ministry of Finance calls it proof of Chinese investor confidence in Kazakhstani macroeconomics.
Tokayev and China's Zhao Leji Discuss Expanding Partnership — With Middle Corridor in Focus
The call follows Kazakhstan's record $48.7bn trade with China in 2025 and comes as Beijing seeks to deepen its position in Kazakh infrastructure
Tajikistan and China Sign New Agreements — What Dushanbe Is Getting, and What It Is Giving Up
The latest round of bilateral deals deepens an already significant dependency. The question is whether Tajikistan had a better option.