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China’s Belt and Road Recalibration: Why Kazakhstan is the New Metals Frontier

Despite widespread expectations that China’s engagement with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries would slow, recent data tells a different story. According to a new report from the Griffith Asia Institute, Chinese involvement in the 150 BRI countries surged in the first half of 2025, reaching ...

How Beijing is Deepening Stakes in Kazakhstan’s Energy Value Chain

China’s growing presence in Kazakhstan’s energy sector marks a strategic evolution that extends far beyond traditional resource extraction. While Beijing has long focused on upstream oil and gas operations to secure energy supplies, recent agreements—particularly those emerging from the Second China–Central Asia Summit—point to a more comprehensive ...

China-Central Asia Weekly Digest

This is a free preview of the upcoming Central Asia Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. This week's developments highlight the intersection of China's digital technology capabilities with Central Asia's urgent modernization requirements across financial ...

China-Central Asia Weekly Digest

This is a free preview of the upcoming Central Asia Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. This week's developments reveal Beijing's strategy to relocate manufacturing capacity while establishing itself as the region's primary technology provider ...

Power, Policy, and Partnership: Mapping China-Azerbaijan Energy Ties

As Azerbaijan accelerates its transition toward renewable energy, Beijing’s clean energy ambitions are finding fertile ground. The country aims to nearly double its installed power generation capacity by 2030—targeting 6.5 GW of combined solar, wind, and hydropower—with renewables expected to make up at least 30 percent of ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Plugging into African Agency

After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...

How China is Challenging Russia’s Nuclear Dominance in Central Asia Through Kazakhstan

Having reshaped Central Asia’s oil and gas infrastructure and challenged Russia’s long-standing dominance of the region’s traditional energy sector, China is now setting its sights on nuclear power as the next frontier.  This next step is not just about energy diversification. ...

Moving Beyond Infrastructure: Key Outcomes from the Second China-Central Asia Summit

Amid intensifying geopolitical turbulence across China's periphery—from the Israel-Iran conflict in the Middle East, to India-Pakistan tensions in South Asia, and the protracted Russia-Ukraine war in Eastern Europe—Beijing's neighborhood diplomacy has become an imperative for safeguarding regional stability.  In this shifting ...

Kazakhstan in China’s EV Playbook: Market Boom Without Manufacturing?

As global trade tensions reshape the automotive industry, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are executing a strategic pivot that reveals the adaptive nature of modern industrial policy. Faced with mounting tariffs and regulatory barriers in Western markets, Beijing's EV champions are turning eastward and southward, seeking new frontiers ...

Electric Ambitions: China’s Strategic Focus on Türkiye’s Green Mobility Industry

As global tensions rise over Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), a seismic shift is underway. With the European Union and the United States tightening their stance and slapping tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, China is responding with a bold new strategy: reshoring its industrial muscle to the Global South. ...

Silk Road Redux: China’s Strategic Leap into the South Caucasus

Less than a year after signing a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan in 2024, China and Azerbaijan elevated their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Azerbaijani president’s recent state visit to Beijing. The move goes far beyond simple ceremonial diplomacy—it's a deliberate reinforcement of China's ...

China’s Eurasian Detour: Bypassing Russia, Dodging U.S. Sea Power

A once-overlooked trade route across the Eurasian landmass is now a key strategic priority for China in this new era of global uncertainty. The Middle Corridor—a multimodal network stretching from China’s western border through Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea, and into Europe via Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye—has ...

China’s Eurasian Detour: Bypassing Russia, Dodging U.S. Sea Power

A once-overlooked trade route across the Eurasian landmass is now a key strategic priority for China in this new era of global uncertainty. The Middle Corridor—a multimodal network stretching from China’s western border through Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea, and into Europe via Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye—has ...
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