In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...
Category: Central Asia
China-Central Asia Weekly News: Building Skills and Local Capacity
This is a free preview of the upcoming China-Central Asia Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in 2026. China's engagement with Central Asia is entering a new phase that extends far beyond the traditional Belt and ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
China–Central Asia Weekly Digest: Vocational Training, Cultural Centers & Governance Programs
This is a free preview of the upcoming China-Central Asia Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in late 2025. This week’s developments highlight how China is deepening its engagement with Central Asian societies through education, culture, and ...
China-Central Asia Weekly Digest: China Brings E-Commerce, EVs & Health Closer to Consumers
This is a free preview of the upcoming China-Central Asia Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in late 2025. This week's developments demonstrate China's expansion into consumer-facing sectors across Central Asia, moving beyond infrastructure projects into direct ...
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 ...
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 ...
China Elevates Ties with Central Asia Amid Growing Security Concerns
Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a treaty on Tuesday to upgrade ties with five Central Asian countries. China is increasingly deepening ties with the region amid growing conflict in West Asia. Xi said the new Treaty of Permanent Good-Neighbourliness and ...
Q&A: Behind Xi’s “Eternal Friendship” Pitch in Central Asia
Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Astana this week for the second China–Central Asia Summit, meeting with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. At the summit, Xi emphasized China’s “eternal friendship” with the region and rolled out a slate of new initiatives, including cooperation ...
China’s Xi in Kazakhstan to Cement ‘Eternal’ Central Asia Ties
Xi Jinping celebrated China's "eternal friendship" with Central Asia at a summit in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, as the Chinese leader blasted tariffs and sought to assert Beijing's influence in a region historically dominated by Russia. The summit in Astana brought together ...
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 ...
Xi’s Central Asia Trip Responds to Global Pressures
China’s President Xi Jinping arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan on Monday for the China-Central Asia Summit, aimed at strengthening Beijing’s ties in the region. The summit will bring Xi together with his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The outreach comes ...
China’s Xi in Kazakhstan to Cement Central Asia Ties
Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Central Asian leaders at a summit in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, his second trip to the region in under a year as Beijing competes with Russia for influence there. The summit in the Kazakh capital brings ...