Category: Central Asia

Turkmenistan, China Launch Expansion of Giant Gas Field

Turkmenistan and China broke ground Friday on works to expand production at the giant Galkynysh gas field, strengthening Beijing's already dominant position in the secretive Central Asian nation's energy sector. The former Soviet republic, which holds the world's fourth-largest gas reserves, ...

U.S. Signs Critical Minerals Deal with Uzbekistan to Counter China’s Resource Dominance in Central Asia

By Marc Jones The U.S. government has signed an agreement with Uzbekistan to secure better access to the Central Asian country's critical minerals, as U.S. President Donald Trump moves to counter China's dominance of crucial resources and their supply chains.

China-Central Asia in 2026: From Resource Access to Structured Interdependence

2025 marked an important inflection point in China-Central Asia relations. Not because China’s presence in the region was new, since Beijing has been a significant economic actor for more than a decade, but because the composition and structure of that engagement began to change in more visible ...

China’s Central Asia Push Runs Into Local Resistance

Official Chinese narratives have long depicted relations with Central Asian countries as uniformly friendly and mutually beneficial. Diplomatically, that image largely holds. Yet recent discussions on the Chinese internet suggest a more complicated reality on the ground where China’s growing economic footprint is increasingly met with local ...

Japan Targets Central Asia’s Critical Minerals in Bid to Reduce Reliance on China

Japan unveiled a five-year goal on Saturday for business projects totalling $19 billion in Central Asia as Tokyo vies for influence in the resource-rich region. The announcement came after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hosted an inaugural summit with the leaders of ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The Emerging China-Global South Energy Nexus

This month brought quietly momentous news: for the first time ever, the world’s share of renewable energy surpassed that generated by burning coal. 
China is one of the world’s biggest consumers of coal and is therefore partly responsible for bringing us to our current carbon crisis. 

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China-Central Asia Weekly News: New Seaport Development, BYD Battery Localization in Uzbekistan, and Healthcare Cooperation

This is a free preview of the upcoming Critical Minerals Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in 2026. Chinese engagement with Central Asia is advancing through a combination of transport infrastructure development, automotive industry expansion, and medical ...

Taliban Announces Arrests Following Attack on Chinese Nationals in Tajikistan

Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced that two suspects have been arrested in connection with an attack on China Road and Bridge Corporation personnel on 30 November. Two people were killed, and two were injured in the attack. Authorities in Tajikistan reportedly ...

Backgrounder: A Chinese Security Crisis on the Afghan-Tajik Border?

A total of five Chinese workers have been killed and a further five injured in successive attacks on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Chinese embassy in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe advised Chinese nationals and firms to leave the area.

Tajikistan Says Two Chinese Citizens Killed in Latest Attacks on Afghan Border

Tajikistan on Monday said two more Chinese citizens died in new attacks on the border with Afghanistan last week, as it urged Kabul to ensure security in the region. The former Soviet republic shares a lengthy mountainous border with Afghanistan and ...

Three Chinese Citizens Killed in Tajik-Afghan Border Clash

Three Chinese workers in Tajikistan were killed in an attack launched from Afghanistan near the border, Tajik authorities said Thursday. Tajikistan has strained relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan and several border clashes have broken out in recent months.

China-Central Asia Weekly News: Managing Friction, Sanctions, and Local Benefits

This is a free preview of the upcoming Critical Minerals Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in 2026. Chinese engagement in Central Asia is facing several friction points that highlight the social and geopolitical complexities behind its ...

Kyrgyzstan Arrests Chinese CEO of Gold Mining Firm

Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday it had arrested the Chinese CEO of a gold mining firm accused of causing "large-scale" environmental damage, amid growing public scrutiny over Beijing's influence in the Central Asian country. China has poured hundreds of millions of dollars of ...
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